“You kind of tear up the expected results and go, ‘Who is going to be the toughest?’ Well, of course Molly is going to be in the mix. “You know it’s not going to go to form when the conditions are wild,” said Des Linden, who famously won the 2018 Boston Marathon in a torrential downpour. Even the fastest runners have to slow down in the heat, making the race less about speed and more about strategy and survival. Tough conditions leveled the fieldĭespite the relocation of the marathon from Tokyo to Sapporo and the decision, the night before, to start it an hour earlier, conditions were still hot and humid. Zooming out, there was ample evidence to back up that inner glimmer. “So I think there was maybe like a little glint in the back of my mind, okay, maybe we can do this,” she said. But for her birthday, her sister gave her a bracelet knitted with “USA” she’d put it on and vowed not to take it off until she won a medal. Until now, no other American woman has earned a marathon medal.Īll this factored into Seidel’s tempered expectations. Joan Benoit Samuelson won gold in Los Angeles, then Kastor won her bronze in 2004. The first time women competed in the marathon distance at the Olympics was in 1984. Molly Seidel with her bronze medal at the closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics. (Kosgei ended up winning silver in Sapporo, in 2:27:36.) Two-time world half marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won the race in 2:27:20 That included world record holder Brigid Kosgei, who ran 2:14:04 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

But eight women on the starting line had personal bests faster than 2:20. Seidel improved on her 2:27:31 performance at the Trials in the London Marathon last October, where she ran 2:25:13. Plus, successfully withstanding nearly two and a half hours of pounding gives you confidence to persist through rough patches in future races, Kastor said. Competing over such a long distance requires a precise calibration of effort, along with skill at techniques like running tangents to minimize any excess distance.

The event typically takes some time to master, said Kastor, who’d run four marathons by the time she went to Athens.

The 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, where she qualified, was her debut at the distance. If you watched or read anything about Seidel’s race afterward, you probably heard the Olympic race was only her third marathon.

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