| Sam Tanner | |
| Birth Date: | 24 August 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Papamoa, New Zealand |
| Height: | 1.70 m |
| Weight: | 56 kg |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Sport: | Track and field |
| Event: | Middle-, long-distance running |
Samuel Tanner (born 24 August 2000)[1] is a New Zealand middle- and long-distance runner specialising in the 1500 metres. He is Māori; his iwi affiliation is Ngāpuhi.[2] Tanner is the New Zealand indoor record holder for the 1500 metres.
A former surfer, Tanner set a national indoor 1500 metres record of 3:34.74 in February 2020 to secure the automatic Olympic qualification mark in Staten Island, New York[3] [4] He was confirmed on the New Zealand team for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in April 2021.[5] At the Games, he failed to make it beyond the heats with a time of 3:43.22.
In June 2022, Tanner won the Oceania Athletics Championships 1500 m title.[6] The following month, he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the event at the World Championships held in Eugene, Oregon with a time of 3:36.32. In August, he finished sixth in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games men's 1500 m final, setting a new personal best of 3:31.34, an improvement of 3 seconds, and becoming the second-fastest New Zealander of all time over the distance behind Nick Willis.[7]
On 28 January 2023, Tanner lowered his personal best time for the mile by 0.41 s to record 3:54.56 in regaining the New Zealand national title at the Cook's Classic in Whanganui.[8] He improved his mile best time twice in the following two weeks with 3:52.85 and then 3:51.70, both indoors in the United States.
Selected for the 1500m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, he reached the semi-finals.[9]
In January 2024, Tanner retained the New Zealand national title in the mile at the Cook's Classic in Whanganui.[10]
In 2024, he was selected to compete for New Zealand at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 1500m race.[11] [12]