Grant Fisher (born April 22, 1997) is a Canadian-born American professional middle- and long-distance runner. He placed fifth in the 10,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and fourth at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. Fisher holds North American records in the 3000 meters, 5000 m and 10,000 m, all set in 2022.
As a high-schooler, he was named Gatorade Player of the Year for cross country for the 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 seasons. On June 4, 2015, he became the seventh American high school student to run a mile under four minutes. An eleven-time All-American, Fisher won the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field 5000 m championship (14:35.60), becoming the first American underclassman to do so in 28 years. The following year, he placed third in the same event with a time of 13:55.04, just missing Syracuse's Justyn Knight (13:55.03) and his Stanford Cardinal teammate Sean McGorty (13:54.81).
Personal life
Grant Fisher was born in Calgary, Alberta, on April 22, 1997, to Dan and Sonia Fisher. He has an older sister, Hailey, and a younger brother, Mark. He grew up in Grand Blanc, Michigan and attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. In addition to running, Fisher was an avid soccer player. He began playing the sport when he was four years old and in high school was a member of the Michigan Wolves, an elite level club team. Fisher now lives in Portland, Oregon, and trains with the Bowerman Track Club under the guidance of Coach Jerry Schumacher.
Early career
While living in Grand Blanc, Michigan, Fisher began running in the spring of his seventh grade year, after joining his middle school cross country team. When he became a freshman in high school, Fisher joined both the soccer and cross country teams, where he made varsity for both.
In 2011, Fisher qualified for the state cross country meet and ran a 16:14 to finish 28th. In the spring of 2012, he qualified for the state meet in the 1600 meter run, he ran a 4:30.23.
In the fall of his sophomore year (November 2012), he missed the Michigan state cross country meet because he had to play for his soccer team in the state finals game. In the spring of 2013, he ran personal bests of 3:50.30 at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics in the 1500 meter run, 4:11.27 in the 1600 meter at the KLAA Lakes Conference Meet, 4:12.74 in the mile run at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals meet, and 8:32.65 in the 3000 at the USATF World Youth Trials, and 9:04.33 in the 3200 at the Michigan state meet.
In the fall of his junior year (2013), he had personal bests of 15:02 at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional to win the event. Fisher then went on to the Foot Locker Nationals, which he won as well. In the spring of his junior year (2014), Fisher set personal bests of 1:55.76 in the 800 meter run, 3:49.62 in the 1500 meters at the World Junior Championships, 4:10.82 in the 1600 meter to win the division one state meet in Michigan, a 4:02.02 in the mile to win the event at the Adidas Grand Prix, 8:55.75 in the 3200 meter run to win JD's Invitational, and an 8:51.28 in the two mile run to win the event at the Brooks PR Invitational.
The fall of his senior year (2014), Fisher ran a 14:43.00 to win the Portage Invitational and a 15:03 to win 2014 Foot Locker Nationals. This victory made Fisher one of only 5 boys to ever win two Foot Locker national titles (the others included Abdirizak Mohamud, Lukas Verzbicas, Edward Cheserek, and Dathan Ritzenhein). In Spring of 2015, Grant Fisher became the 7th high school athlete to break 4 minutes in the mile, tying Matthew Maton's time of 3:59.38.
Stanford University
Fisher committed to run at Stanford University on November 16, 2014.
At the end of his freshman year cross country season at Stanford, he placed 17th overall at the 2015 NCAA DI XC Championships in 30:07.9. In the winter 2015-16 indoor season, Fisher won 3000 meters on February 13, 2016, in Seattle (2016 Husky Classic) with a personal best 7:50.06.
At the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Fisher won the 5000 meters race. The race was tactical and his time of 14:35.60 was the slowest winning mark in an NCAA final since 1995. It also made Fisher the first American underclassmen to win the NCAA title in 28 years.
Fisher placed 5th at the 2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. At the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Fisher placed 3rd in the 5000m behind Stanford Cardinal men's track and field teammate and 2018 5000 meters champion Sean McGorty.
Fisher placed 2nd at 2018 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships leading Stanford Cardinals to a 5th-place team finish.