Fast Women: A big win for Gracie Morris on Fifth Avenue
The World Championships begin this week in Tokyo.
Issue 371, sponsored by Bakline
Gracie Morris caps off a stellar season with a win at the Fifth Avenue Mile
Defending Fifth Avenue Mile champion Karissa Schweizer took this year’s race out hard. For a 5,000m and 10,000m specialist, a mile almost feels like an all-out sprint, and Schweizer wanted to take the sting out of her competitors’ kicks. While most of the field hung back, Puma Elite’s Gracie Morris positioned herself between Schweizer and the rest of the field, within striking distance.
Schweizer continued to lead through three-quarters of a mile, but with a little less than 300m to go, Morris caught her and pulled away to win comfortably in 4:15.5. On wet roads, her time was only 0.7 seconds off the event record, which is jointly held by Schweizer and Great Britain’s Laura Muir. Kayley DeLay came from behind to take second in 4:17.4, Schweizer held on for third (4:17.6), and Eleanor Fulton had a strong race, taking fourth in 4:18.9.
This year’s field was a little more evenly matched than it sometimes is, but I thought Morris deserved more pre-race attention. Sure, her personal bests, 4:04.05 for 1500m and 4:23.74 in the mile, don’t really stand out on the start list. But one of the impressive things about Morris is how she races. She has great instincts and dangerous closing speed.
She also has a lot of momentum and knows how to run well on Fifth Avenue. In last year’s Fifth Avenue recap, I wrote that Morris’ fifth-place finish was the performance that surprised me most. At the time, she was just out of college at TCU and her 1500m PR was 4:08.94. She ran 4:20.4 that day. Over the past year, she has lowered her 1500m time by nearly five seconds, and she made a corresponding jump here.
This year, the performance that surprised me most was DeLay’s runner-up finish. Until about three weeks ago, she was a 4:11.20 1500m runner. She had a big race last month to lower that to 4:04.99, but this was probably the best race of her season. To be fair, she has mostly been a steeplechaser, so until now, she wasn’t racing the 1500m/mile at peak fitness. But after breaking her arm while riding her bike earlier this season, she has mostly stuck to flat races this year, and it paid off here.
I was also impressed by Raevyn Rogers, who is an 800m specialist but held her own here, running 4:22.2 to take seventh on her 29th birthday.
Though we still have the world championships and Athlos remaining, this race marked the end of the season for most, if not all, of the runners in the field. Heather MacLean was a late withdrawal from the event. She said in an Instagram story that she was calling it a season because she is dealing with a respiratory infection. (Results)
Side note: This is not about any athlete or brand in particular, and people have great or rough days for all sorts of reasons. But any time an athlete consistently races better on the roads than the track or vice versa, I wonder if shoe technology plays any role. Yes, when it comes to shoes, the playing field is more even these days than it was five years ago. But that doesn’t mean all companies’ road racing shoes are equally as good as their track spikes, and even a good shoe isn’t necessarily going to be great for every athlete.
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The World Championships kick off on Friday evening in the U.S.
At times, this has felt like the track season that never ends, but the World Championships have finally arrived. The meet takes place September 13-21, but Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time, so the first session will take place Friday evening in the U.S. (I appreciate that the timetable on World Athletics’ site has a “my time” column.)
The event will take place in the same stadium as the 2021 Olympic Games, but this time, the National Stadium will be packed with fans. The meet will get exciting right away with the first round of the 1500m (6:50 a.m. ET) and the 10,000m final (8:30 a.m.) taking place Saturday morning in the U.S., and the marathon later that evening (7:00 p.m.).
Many of the women’s middle-distance and distance events have a pretty strong favorite: Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson in the 800m, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon in the 1500m, and Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet in the 10,000m. Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi isn’t as dominant in the steeplechase, but she won her last race against Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, so she’s the one to beat. With both Chebet and Kipyegon doubling back, the 5,000m is harder to call, but it should be a great showdown.
The marathon is always more of a toss up, especially because it’s going to be a warm race. But Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, the second-fastest woman ever at the distance (and the fastest not currently serving a provisional doping suspension) leads the field.
I’m looking forward to finding out what surprises are in store for us. All of the sessions will air on Peacock in the U.S., and a more detailed TV schedule will be available any day now. (Schedule/results | Entries)
Aubrey Frentheway wins her first national title
Roughly 15K into last Monday’s USATF 20K Championships in New Haven, Connecticut, Aubrey Frentheway began to push the pace. The lead pack of five, which also included Maggie Montoya, Biruktayit Degefa, Ednah Kurgat, and Carrie Ellwood quickly stretched out. Frentheway admitted after the race that she briefly second-guessed her decision to make a move that early, but then decided she just needed to commit.
The decision paid off. Degefa and Kurgat remained within striking distance, but they were never able to close the gap. Frentheway hung on and earned her first national title, the biggest win of her career, in 1:05:36. Degefa, who was running her first national championship since becoming a U.S. citizen, finished second in 1:05:42, Kurgat took third in 1:05:46, Montoya was fourth (1:05:57) and Ellwood, who said she had to take time off for a muscle tear in her hip this summer, finished fifth (1:06:08).
The prize money went 10 deep, with Frentheway earning $9,000 for the win and Degefa earning $4,000 for finishing second. Keira D’Amato’s 2022 course record of 1:04:29 was never threatened, but a long list of fast women have raced in New Haven, and not many have run faster than Frentheway did last Monday. The weather, with temperatures in the low 60s, helped.
Frentheway, 26, signed with Saucony shortly after the 2024 indoor season. At BYU, she raced at the NCAA Cross Country Championships five times due to the pandemic and became a four-time All American, with a high finish of 14th in 2023. She helped BYU earn the 2020 NCAA cross country team title, and her highest finish on the track was 10th in the 10,000m at the 2023 NCAA outdoors.
Frentheway has the classic profile of an athlete who is destined to excel in the longer distances, so it’s no surprise that instead of sticking with her college coach, Diljeet Taylor, she joined Ed Eyestone’s more marathon-focused group, which is also based in Provo, Utah. In addition to running, she is an eighth-grade math and STEM teacher.
She finished 10th in New Haven last year (and ran 3:36 slower) before running 2:35:47 in her marathon debut in Chicago. In June, despite warmer-than-ideal conditions, she shaved 8:33 off of her PR in finishing second at Grandma’s Marathon. Next up, she’ll race the Chicago Marathon on October 12.
Frentheway said afterward that her workouts have been hit or miss, so she had no idea how she would feel during the race. She also told Race Results Weekly that she has been dealing with a hamstring issue for about two months.
Until I saw Degefa’s name on the start lists, I had no idea that she had become a U.S. citizen. She previously represented Ethiopia and her World Athletics page doesn’t reflect any change of allegiance yet. The 34-year-old is a 2:21:34 marathoner and could obviously have a big impact on the roads. She told Race Results Weekly that she has been injured for most of the last two years.
Makenna Myler has also dealt with a lot of setbacks over the past several years, but she had one of her best races in a while here, finishing sixth in 1:06:44. Annie Frisbie, who I would have picked as one of the pre-race favorites, finished seventh in the deep field in 1:06:54, and Sara Hall, 42, was the top masters finisher, taking eighth in 1:07:09.
Emily Venters also went in as one of the pre-race favorites, but did not finish. She wrote about her race experience here and said that it was the nudge she needed to start seeing a sports psychologist. (Results)
Other News
Mary Cain announced last week that she has a memoir, This Is Not About Running, coming out on April 28, 2026. It’s available for pre-order and according to the book summary, now that her lawsuit against Nike has been settled, she’s ready to tell her side of the story, with help from diaries she kept during that time. At the end of 2020, I wrote about the lack of good women’s running books, and over the past three years, there has been an explosion of them. Keira D’Amato’s Don’t Call It a Comeback comes out tomorrow and Sara Hall’s For the Love of the Grind will be available April 21, 2026.
Speaking of D’Amato’s book, I enjoyed this piece from The New York Times (gift link) and it confirms she’s planning to run the Valencia Marathon in December.
Sunday’s Copenhagen Half Marathon has attracted an interesting field, with U.S. athletes Fiona O’Keeffe, D’Amato, Natosha Rogers, and Jackie Gaughan all entered. And the headliners include Kenyans Sharon Lokedi, Joyciline Jepkosgei, and Cintia Chepngeno as well as Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw.
On Saturday, Nikki Hiltz asked their Instagram followers, “If you’re frustrated with the current administration in your country and can’t believe all the damage they are doing…but you’re heading to a global championship where you’ll be representing said country, how would you go about processing that?” I appreciate that they brought this up, and that they consistently speak up about injustice in the U.S., because not a lot of people in the sport consistently do so. The responses they received included, “I would reframe it as representing all queer and marginalized communities” and “Because trans kids will see you run and know that the entire country isn’t against them.”
Sister Marion Irvine passed away on August 30, at age 95. Irvine famously took up running when she was 48 years old, and qualified for the 1984 Olympic Marathon Trials by running a 2:51:01 marathon at age 54. She remains the oldest person ever to qualify for the marathon trials. Roger Robinson wrote a nice tribute to her for Runner’s World. A mass in her honor will take place September 21 in San Rafael, California.
It’s behind a paywall, but Keely Hodgkinson’s coach and PT shared some interesting insights in this Athletics Weekly piece. Her coach, Trevor Painter, said that she has suffered a series of setbacks over the past year. She went into the Olympic Games with “a niggle” that got worse when she went on vacation to celebrate afterward. She worked her way back and thought she was ready to break the indoor world record in February, then she tore her hamstring. Things were looking good in mid June, and then “boom, it happened again.” That setback wasn’t as bad, so she has made a quicker recovery.
NAU runner Karrie Baloga shared that she was recently diagnosed with REDs. I appreciate that more and more athletes are getting diagnoses so they can get help, and I imagine her post will help others.
There hasn’t been an announcement about athletes joining New Balance Boston, but coach Mark Coogan posted videos of both Alex Millard, a British runner who ran for Providence College, and former UVA runner Margot Appleton, who grew up in Massachusetts, working out.
Former University of Kentucky assistant coach Hakon DeVries is still under investigation, but the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that he has left the school.
Additional Results
Kenyans Sheila Chepkirui and Vivian Cheruiyot, 41, went 1-2 at the Great North Run Half Marathon, running 1:09:32 and 1:09:37. In the eighth mile, the lead duo put in a surge that dropped Great Britain’s Eilish McColgan for good. Emily Sisson hung in there a little longer, but ultimately dropped back as well, as the leaders ran a 4:58 mile. But then McColgan rallied in the 13th mile, running a 4:44 and coming pretty close to catching Cheruiyot. McColgan was third in 1:09:42 and Sisson took fourth in 1:10:17. “I definitely wanted more but that’s how it goes sometimes!” Sisson wrote on Instagram. “I did a better job of going with the surges than my last couple of races, but the wheels came off the last few miles.” (Results)
Alessia Zarbo won Prague’s Birell 10K Night Race in a French record of 31:00, and runner-up Tereza Hrochová set a Czech record of 31:38. Zarbo spent some time racing collegiately for the University of Oregon, where her 10,000m best was 32:28.57 in 2022. (Results)
Great Britain’s Jess Warner-Judd won London’s Big Half in 1:10:35. (Results)
Makena Morley won the Bozeman Half Marathon in 1:10:36. (Results)
Taryn Rawlings won the 1500m at Germany’s Volksbank Trier Eifel Flutlichtmeeting in a personal best of 4:03.78, and Eleanor Fulton took second in a season’s best of 4:04.40. Germany’s Majtie Kolberg won the 800m in 1:59.52. (Results)
After her terrible fall in the 1500m at the USATF Outdoor Championships, it was nice to see Helen Schlactenhaufen get in another race to end her season. She won the 1500m at the Continental Tour meet in Beijing, running 4:06.95. There was a tight three-way battle for second, with Christina Aragon (4:07.20) coming out on top. China’s Tiantian Liang won the 3,000m in 8:57.65, and Colleen Quigley finished fifth in 9:05.05. (Results)
Breanna Sieracki won Minnesota’s City of Lakes Half Marathon in 1:13:35. (Results)
Anna Kenig-Ziesler won Washington’s Redmond Harvest Half Marathon in 1:13:48. (Results)
Eva Jess won Michigan’s Mackinac Island Eight Mile Run in 44:22. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
The Fast People podcast lives on! In the latest episode, Sarah Lorge Butler talked to Josette Andrews after her recent runner-up finish at the Diamond League final, before she headed off to Tokyo for the world championships. Andrews has put together enough solid years that it’s easy to forget that she wasn’t a huge NCAA star. She finished 237th out of 253 finishers at the NCAA Cross Country Championships her first year of college, and then didn’t qualify for NCAAs again until the end of her fifth year, when she finished fourth in the 5,000m. But she kept the faith and now she’s one of the best runners in the U.S.
Emily Infeld was really good on The Fueling Forward Podcast. She talked about having a healthy relationship with food and her body throughout high school and college, but when she became a pro, the messaging she was getting eventually got to her, which ended with a series of injuries. A number of things contributed, but she mentioned that someone sent her a LetsRun thread about how she would never be good as a pro because she was too big, which is frustrating on multiple levels.
Krissy Gear was on I’ll Have Another, and I always appreciate her candor.
On Hurdle Erika Kemp mentioned what a great coach Kurt Benninger has been for her, and suggested that she hasn’t always had that during her professional career. “There was a running bit where the (unnamed) coach doesn’t care how Erika feels, because he would ask and then nothing would change,” she said. “It didn’t really feel like he was listening…and Kurt is the polar opposite of that.” She also mentioned that near the end of her time with the B.A.A., her coach had stopped speaking to her because they had a bit of a falling out. (It doesn’t sound all that different than Annie Rodenfels’ experience leaving the team. The team appears to have only two women at the moment. It will be interesting to see if they reload or if they’re winding down.)
Jenny Grimshaw discussed her experience with food intolerances and ARFID, among other things, on The Lane 9 Podcast. After the episode was published, Grimshaw said in an Instagram post that after a series of setbacks, she’s shutting down her Chicago Marathon build.
On the Y’s Guys Podcast, BYU coach Diljeet Taylor talked about really doing things the right way and focusing on the long term in coaching Jane Hedengren. She said that in the team’s first hard workout, Hedengren created some separation over the team’s other top runners and she was proud of them for telling her, “You doing your very best helps us do our very best. Don’t worry about where we are at.” Taylor enters the conversation just before the 84-minute mark and her interview is also available on YouTube.
Lexi Westley discussed her negative experience running under former University of Wisconsin coach Mackenzie Wartenberger on Wisconsin Today. That segment begins around the 13:00 mark. There’s also an accompanying article. Westley’s experience helped inspire her to become a coach and do things differently. She’s now an assistant coach at Rutgers.
The Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying window opened on September 1 and Matt Chittim, Peter Bromka, and Lindsey Hein jointly launched season four of the Road to the Trials podcast. Their goal is to talk to every person who qualifies for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Their first guest was past Trials qualifier Theresa Hailey.
Additional Episodes: Hillary Allen discussed qualifying for the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships on The Rambling Runner Podcast | Kaytlyn Gerbin on Women of Distance | Masters runner Mary Cass on Women’s Running Stories
Thanks again to Bakline for supporting Fast Women, and congratulations to them on opening their first store last week! And remember you can use the code FASTWOMEN for 20 percent off.
With the world championships coming up, you’ll be hearing from me a lot in the near future. I’ll be spending the next few days getting stuff done so that I can spend a little too much time thinking about track September 12-21.
I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison