2018 TCS New York City Marathon

Report: Matthew Centrowitz No Longer With Nike Oregon Project

Report: Matthew Centrowitz No Longer With Nike Oregon Project

The Olympic 1,500m champion had been with the group since 2012.

Nov 3, 2018 by Lincoln Shryack
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2016 Olympic 1,500m gold medalist and seven-time U.S. champion Matthew Centrowitz has left the Nike Oregon Project, according to a report by LetsRun’s Jonathan Gault.

The 29-year-old had been a member of the Portland-based group since 2012, his first full professional season out of college. 

Centrowitz has had tremendous success under NOP head coach Alberto Salazar, who helped guide the miler to a fourth-place finish at the 2012 Olympics and a silver medal at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow before his crowning achievement at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. He also won the World Indoor 1,500m title in Portland in March of 2016.

In that final in Rio, Centrowitz became the first American to win Olympic gold in the 1,500m in 108 years.

Prior to turning pro, a 21-year-old Centro earned bronze in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, which in hindsight proved to be a sign of better things to come.

The wheels to this departure have seemingly been in motion for some time, as Centrowitz briefly moved back to Washington, D.C., from Portland in 2017 before accepting a volunteer coaching position at the University of Washington—under his former college coach Andy Powell—in Seattle this summer. As part of the job, Centrowitz now lives and trains in Seattle full-time.

According to the report, it is not clear yet who is coaching Centrowitz. 

However, his tight association with Powell makes it seem likely that the pair are working together as coach and athlete as well.