Jeff Atkinson (athlete)


Jeffrey Patrick Atkinson is a male former middle distance runner from the United States. He currently holds the mile record at Stanford University and has held the record for years. He was the fastest American male in the 1500 meters in 1989. He competed at the Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea and came in tenth place in the 1500m race. He tried to make a comeback at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but did not get past the Olympic Trials.

Coaching

Atkinson currently holds coaching positions in both cross country and track and field at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, CA. At Mira Costa, Jeff worked with the head coach of Cross Country Roberto Calderon starting in 2015. Jeff, along with fellow head coach Brian Shapiro, coached both the boys' and girls' cross country program at Palos Verdes to much success in 2007, when both varsity teams competed in both the Division III CIF Southern Section Finals and State Championships. The boys have since won a CIF-SS title and a CIF State Championship titles in 2009 & 2011 and gone on to compete at the Nike Cross Nationals in 2009. The girls also won a Southern Section title in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and CIF State Championship title in 2011 & 2014 under Atkinson.

Stanford Track Record

3:55.16 Mile, 1986

Former United States Track Record Holder

3:38.12 1500m, 1989 (record was broken by Bernard Lagat in 2005
Indoor American Record

Personal Records

2005
Won Catalina Marathon in 3:05:27 which today is the masters record.