Five-Time NCAA Champion Habtom Samuel Is Turning Pro

Habtom Samuel, the most decorated athlete in University of New Mexico history, is turning professional. The five-time NCAA champion announced the decision on Instagram on Tuesday, forgoing his final year of collegiate eligibility. “I have made the decision to pursue my dream and officially turn professional,” he wrote.

There was not much left for him to win. Samuel went undefeated against collegiate competition this season, taking 11 of his 13 races overall, and completed the 5,000m and 10,000m double at last month’s NCAA outdoor championships, as KRQE reported. He is a finalist for the Bowerman Award, the highest individual honor in college track and field.

His 12:57.22 outdoor 5,000m stands as the collegiate record, and he owns the three fastest 5,000m performances in NCAA outdoor history, per KRQE. That time is also an Eritrean national record, one of three he set this year along with the indoor 3,000m (7:39.62) and two miles (8:11.47).

A 59:01 Warning Shot In Houston

The professional ranks started paying attention in January, when Samuel won his half marathon debut in Houston in a course record of 59:01, at the time the fourth-fastest half marathon ever run on US soil. He beat a field full of experienced professional road racers to do it.

“When I realised the course record was within reach, I felt a mix of happiness, pride and disbelief,” Samuel said in a World Athletics feature on his season. “This was my debut, and the record was already very fast.”

The race told him something bigger. “In that moment, I realised that I belong at this level,” he told World Athletics.

From A Village In Eritrea To Albuquerque

Samuel grew up in Debresina, a village in Eritrea where running was part of daily life before it was a sport. Long trips to school on foot built the engine. By his teens he was one of the country’s brightest prospects, winning World U20 bronze medals over 3,000m in Nairobi in 2021 and 5,000m in Cali in 2022 before joining the Lobos.

His coach at New Mexico, Darren Gauson, says the biggest change since then has not been fitness. “He’s incredibly aerobically gifted,” Gauson told World Athletics. “But what’s really improved is his decision-making. He knows when to make decisive moves that will stick and win races.”

What Comes Next

Samuel has one semester left on his degree and says finishing it remains a priority. His announcement tagged the shoe brand Hoka and Icon Management, the agency of his agent Kimberly Holland, though no professional contract has been formally announced.

Holland has not been shy about his ceiling. “Running one of the fastest half marathons ever on US soil makes one thing clear,” she said after Houston. “Habtom Samuel has a very bright future ahead of him after his collegiate eligibility.”

He enters a professional distance scene where recent NCAA stars have set a high bar, from Nico Young’s American 5,000m record to Grant Fisher’s world record indoors. Samuel, for his part, kept his own forecast short: “The Journey Continues. I’m Just Getting Started!”