Parker Valby

Quick Facts

• Daughter of Tiffany and Kyle Valby
• First female runner in NCAA history to win five individual NCAA national titles in a single academic year 
• 2024 Bowerman Award winner (award given annually to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track & field athletes)

Biographical Information

Parker Valby grew up in Connecticut and moved to Florida with her family before high school. Valby first took up running for her high school cross country team to stay in shape for lacrosse (a sport she had played since she was younger) and tried track and field only after an ankle injury sidelined her during lacrosse season.

Valby would run both cross-country and long-distance races in track and field at the University of Florida, where she would help the Gators to the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track & Field team title, and during her final season in college (2023-24), she became the first female runner in NCAA history to win five NCAA individual national titles in a single academic year.

Just three weeks after capturing two titles at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter, Valby would qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team by virtue of a second-place finish in the 10,000m at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field. 

Valby finished 11th in 10,000m at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Valby’s trip to Paris was not only her Olympic debut but also her first trip to Europe.

After turning professional in 2024, Parker Valby trains with one of her first track and field idols, Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn. 

Valby’s goal as a professional athlete in track and field is to be a role model: “I want to be the next Emma Coburn for the next generation of athletes.” 

Olympic Experience

• 1-time Olympian
  • Olympic Games Paris 2024, 11th (10000m - Women)