Nicole Mericle: World Champion Obstacle Course Racer

Nicole is a 5-time obstacle racing world champion and the reigning Spartan Race World Champion. Nicole’s competitive background began as a Division 1 Cross Country and Track & Field athlete at Rice University where she held two school records and qualified for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 3,000m steeplechase. She raced post collegiately with Hudson Elite in Boulder, Colorado, and over time transitioned to trail running and garnered her passion for rock climbing. Her diverse athletic strengths led her to test her skills at her first obstacle course race in 2016. Nicole was immediately successful, and in 2017 she won the USA OCR Championship in both the 3k and 15k, finished as the first American in the Spartan Championship Series, and won the 3k OCR World Championship and Tougher Mudder World Championship. In 2018, she repeated as the 3k OCR World Champion and in 2019 solidified her rise to the top of the sport winning both the Spartan Race World and Trifecta Championships. Nicole founded a women's elite development team, OCR Dream Team, in 2021 as a way to identify and foster up and coming female athletes in OCR. She also created Elevate, a community group on a mission to uplift women's voices in OCR and encourage growth and connection in the sport.