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Lizzie Bird Tokyo finals

Elizabeth May Bird

  • Class
    2019
  • Honors
    Cross Country (2017-2018)
2017 Cross Country: Competed in all six of the race in the Dons season...finished the Roy Griak Invitational in 16th place with a time of 22:03...crossed the line at the Nuttycombe Invitational in 57th place, posting a time of 20:52...raced to a season-best time of 20:12.8 at the WCC Championships where she finished ninth, earning all-conference honors...finished 39th at the Regionals in a time of 20:38.2...at the NCAA Championships she finished the 6K race with a time of 20:29.6 for 72nd place to help the Dons on their program best runner up finish at the NCAAs.

Previous school: Four-time NCAA regional qualifier in the 3,000 meter steeplechase … 2015 honorable mention All-American … raced for the Tigers twice in the NCAA Cross Country Championships … won four individual Ivy League titles in the steeplechase (2015, 2017), 4x800 meters (2017) and cross country (2015) while under the direction of Peter Farrell and Brad Hunt … team earned the Ivy League cross country crown in 2015 … earned four selections to the USTFCCCA All-Academic rolls … graduated from Princeton in 2017, receiving a Degree in Politics before matriculating to USF.

Prep/International: Represented Great Britain in the European U23 Championships in 2016, racing to 12th in the 3,000 m SC … finished eighth in the English National U20 Cross Country Championships in 2013.

Personal: Pursuing a graduate degree in international studies at USF … daughter of Virginia and Patrick Bird … enjoys traveling, cooking and reading in her spare time … born Oct. 4, 1994, in the Philippines.
 

Lizzie Bird, a former member of the University of San Francisco women's cross country and track and field teams, qualified for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for her home country of Great Britain.

Bird received her MA in Global Studies (formerly international studies) in 2019 from USF. She has been involved in advocacy and support for the human rights organization Detention Action.

Fresh off her bronze medal performance at the 2024 European Championships held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome in early June, Bird placed first at the UK Athletics Championships and Olympic Trials last weekend to punch her ticket to Paris. Her mark of 9:29.67 was a championship record and 21 seconds off her personal best in the event set in August of 2022.
 
Bird, making her second consecutive appearance in the Olympics, previously competed in the 2020 Summer Games held in Tokyo in July of 2021. One of two participants representing Great Britain in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Japan National Stadium, Bird finished in ninth place with a time of 9:19.68.
 
A member of the San Francisco women's cross country and track and field teams from 2017-2018, Bird competed in nine total cross country races in two seasons for the Dons. Bird earned three top-15 finishes, highlighted by a ninth-place finish at the 2017 West Coast Conference Championships, setting a personal best of 20:12.8 in the 6,000 meters.
 
Before her time on the Hilltop, Bird competed at Princeton for four seasons, where she was a four-time NCAA Regional Qualifier in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She also earned three individual Ivy League track and field titles in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (2015 and 2017) and 4x800-meter relay (2017).

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