Michael Morton (runner)

Michael Morton, known as Mike, is an American ultramarathon runner born in 1971 in Trenton, Michigan, who served about twelve years as a Navy diver and later as a Delta Force operator in the U.S. Army. He had two highly successful periods in ultrarunning, 1994 to 1998 and 2010 to 2013. In 1997 he became the first non-Californian to win the Western States Endurance Run and set a course record. In 2012 he had an undefeated season in major races, setting course records at the Long Haul 100, the Umstead 100 and the Keys 100 and winning the Badwater Ultramarathon. He capped that year by winning the IAU 24 Hour World Championship in Katowice, Poland, running 277.543 kilometres and breaking the American record by nearly seven miles. He was named Ultrarunner of the Year by Ultrarunning Magazine and by USA Track and Field for 2012 and was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame in 2024.