21-Year-Old Breaks World Record While Fighting Depression

When Sam Fetters collapsed at the finish line of his first marathon on Martha's Vineyard in 2023, his mom hovering over him, he asked if he was seeing God. After a pint of ice cream, the struggling college freshman decided to do five more marathons around the world.

This March, the 21-year-old Amherst College senior crossed the finish line in Tokyo and made history. Fetters became the youngest person ever to complete all six Abbott World Marathon Majors in under three hours, finishing the global circuit that includes Chicago, New York, Boston, Berlin, London, and Tokyo.

But the world record came second to something more important: finding himself again.

"I came into this project as a scared kid who had no idea what they were doing, how they wanted their life to unfold, or even if there was a life there to unfold for them," Fetters said. After not making his college cross country team at 18, he spiraled into a dark period for his mental health.

He chose an impossible goal on purpose. Training for six marathons across three continents while finishing college seemed crazy, but that's exactly why it worked.

His mom Kim Leaird was skeptical when her son announced his plan. "I just could not grasp going from running locally to running globally," she said.

The journey threw everything at him. He battled food poisoning in Berlin and hit the infamous Heartbreak Hill in Boston while deep in his mental health recovery, struggling to breathe at mile 20.

At that moment on Heartbreak Hill, something clicked. "Maybe I don't need to accomplish something to justify my worth," he realized. "Maybe inside, at the heart of it, I'm really enough."

Why This Inspires

Fetters ran 75 to 80 miles every week for three years, often at night despite his mother's worries. The training taught him accountability, time management, and faith in himself that rippled into every corner of his life.

He changed his major from computer science to history and political science, following his actual passions. He studied abroad in Amsterdam and helped build Amherst's run club.

London and New York became "parties" with spectators cheering the entire way. Between world marathons, he came home to win the Chilmark Road Race 5K in 2025.

When he completed Tokyo in 2:31:40, his six-star medal gleaming, Fetters ordered a big plate of Italian carbonara and reflected on the scared freshman who started this journey. Only a fraction of millions of marathon runners worldwide ever complete the circuit, and even fewer at his age.

"He teaches me every day what it's like to follow through," his mom said.

Fetters sees marathoning less as a purpose and more as "scaffolding" for growth in all the other parts of his life. After graduating this spring, he admits uncertainty lies ahead, but he's no longer afraid of what's around the corner.

His next marathon is only seven months away.