Sophia Liu

Age: 37
Events: Mainly road races specialized in longer distance like marathon but recently develop some interests in track events.
Hometown: Tianjin, China

Personal Bests

5k (track) - 17:06 (8/11/2020)

Half marathon - 1:16:06 (2020, Club-certified half marathon course)

Marathon - 2:38:24 (2020, Club-certified marathon course)

Career Highlights

2019 Guangzhou marathon (IAAF gold label race): top 5 (2:40:33) qualified me for NEW Olympic standards (IAAF gold table race, top 5 or female under 2:29:30 time standard)

Became the first Amateur Chinese and the only one up to date with the new Olympic standards.

2018 my performance in Beijing Marathon 2:43:10 rewarded me with the 2018 Chinese Amateur Marathoner of the year award (Prize money 50'000 RMB)

2019 Chicago marathon 2:43:10

2019 Boston Marathon 2:48:10

2018 Beijing Marathon 2:43:10 (9th Female, 1st non-pro Chinese Olympic selection)

2018 Shanghai Marathon 2:43:33 (13th Female, 1st non-pro Chinese Olympic selection)

2017 California International Marathon 2:42:50 (OTQ)

2017 Berlin Marathon 2:48:29 (29th female)

2016 Seattle RnR Marathon 2:51:45 (Female Champion)

2016 Beijing International Marathon 2:59:52 (8th female, 1st Chinese Female)

2015 Bellingham Bay Marathon 2:54:48 (Female Champion)

2015 Seattle Marathon 2:58:39 (Female Champion)

2014 Boston Marathon 2:57:41 (1st personal sub 3:00 performance)

2014 Seattle Marathon 2:57:30 (Female Champion, 1st marathon win)

About

Growing up in China, I didn’t have a traditional athlete’s background. In fact, my first race was the Seattle marathon in 2010, after which I moved to Indiana for a PhD program in exercise physiology. Upon graduating, I moved back to Seattle at the end of 2014 and started as a research scientist at the UW, studying aging and mitochondria dysfunction. In the meantime, I fell in love with the running community here and was happy to have more time to train.

In 2017, China announced that a non-pro could join the Olympic program for the 2020 Tokyo National Marathon Team. In 2018, I competed in the Beijing and Shanghai marathons (2:43:10 and 2:43:30 respectively) which qualified me for the national Olympic Marathon trial. The same year, I joined CNW and really benefited from the group training and the constant motivation from teammates push each other.

I was supposed to race at the Olympic trials in China in March 2020, but the pandemic hit and the trial was postponed. Instead, I used this year to lower my times—from 5k to the marathon! With our club teammates and the local Chinese running community’s support, I clocked a new personal PB in the half marathon and marathon, finishing in 1:16:06 and 2:38:24 respectively.

For those who are interested, you can follow my story in the following articles:

https://northwest.motion.social/2018/07/26/sophia-liu-running-to-the-olympics/

https://northwest.motion.social/2021/01/05/sophia-liu-2021-olympic-marathon/