Australian runer stars for track and field as season

All the way from down under, Ethan Forbes has already set his name in the record books at Troy in his first two weeks of competition with the Trojans. 

In just over a week, Forbes set the school record in the indoor 800m… twice. At the Jimmy Carnes Invitational on Jan. 16, Forbes won the men’s 800m with a time of 1:52.96, beating the previous Troy record holder, Chance Armstrong, who ran a 1:53.66.  

Just eight days later at the Clemson Orange and Purple Invitational on Jan. 23, he set the bar even higher, breaking his own record in the 800m in 1:50.11. This time put him three seconds ahead of Armstrong’s record back in 2019.  

Troy Athletics photo

Ethan Forbes runs during the Orange and Purple Invitational.

Forbes 800m is also the second fastest overall in school history, including both indoor and outdoor. Just ahead of Forbes is Marcus Woody, who ran a 1:49.40 in the outdoor 800m in 1993. 

Record setting this early in the season is not often seen but can mean a lot for what is ahead for Troy track and field.   

Forbes’ path to Troy has been one of great travel. Forbes attended high school at St. Peters Lutheran College, in Queensland, Australia, where he listed personal records in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m.  

After high school, Forbes ran at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California, for a year before coming to Troy. At AAU, Forbes competed in multiple middle-distance events, placing high on leaderboard.  

In one of his first meets as a collegiate athlete, Forbes won a 37-runner field by more than two seconds, finishing ahead of several Division I competitors. Forbes placed himself in the books at AAU for the 800m with a time of 1:49.95, which is a 16^th of a second faster than his record broken last weekend.  

Now at Troy, Forbes has already made his mark in just over two weeks of competition. With early indoor wins and record times, Forbes will be one to watch as Troy moves further into the indoor season and on to postseason competition.