#TheJourneytoCompete: Cross Country, Interview #10, Yusuf Bizimana, SWOOSH Track Club, talks "real cross-country" and provides XC training tip!

Yusuf Bizimana moved from the British Isles to Texas, inspired by Josh Kerr, and had some impressive successes on the US collegiate scene. In 2023, Yusuf won the NCAA Indoor 800 meter title! In June 2023, Yusuf then finished second in the 800 meters at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor National Championships for Division 1. In 2024, Yusuf set the 1,000 meter indoor record for the NCAA with his swift 2:18.10.

Yusuf Bizimana has some serious PBs: 48.11 for 400 meters (2023), 1:15.79 for 600 meters (2023), and 1:46.02 for 800 meters (2023), 2:18:10 fo 1000 meters (2024), plus mile in 3:57.81. Yusuf has serious wheels, look at his 3000m PB of 7:44.76 and 5,000 meters PB of 13:03.78. Outdoors, Yusuf Bizimana ran a 1:45.74 for the 800 meters outdoors.

NIKE presents #TheJourneytoCompete, celebrating cross-country and the NIKE Cross Nationals, Issues, 1-11, Back Issues, Fall/Winter 2025

#TheJourneytoCompete: Ten Athletes Talk Cross-Country, Tips from the SWOOSH Track Club (Flagstaff)!

Jaeyln Williams had a fantastic senior year of cross-country!

Yusuf Bizimana, SWOOSH Track Club, November 22, 2025, photo by Larry Eder @runblogrun

I enjoyed my meeting with Yusuf, he is an articulate and confident middle distance runner. Yusuf and I chatted about cross-country. “In my country, cross-country is real, snow, rain, cold, hills, this is not cross-country!”

Yusuf Bizimana has a point. We asked Yusuf Bizimana for a tip on cross-country, as he was hanging with his SWOOSH Track Club team mates at the NXR Southwest Regional on November 22, 2025. Yusuf is coached by MIke Smith in Flagstaff, Airzona. He is training with Parker Wolfe, Ethan Strand, Woody Kincaid, Maggi Congdon, Moh Ahmed, Drew Bosley, Elise Stearns, et al.

Here is my interview:

“Cross country is real in my country, “ this was how Yusuf Bizimana, holder of NCAA indoor 1000m record of 2:18.10. Yusuf was NCAA indoor Div 1 champion at 800 meters, in 2023. In June 2023, Yusuf finished 2nd in NCAA outdoor. Yusuf now runs for NIKE Swoosh TC in Flagstaff. Here… pic.twitter.com/cUWUUMKMeZ

— RunBlogRun (@RunBlogRun) December 24, 2025

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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