Fast Women: A debacle at the USATF Half Marathon Championships

Nikki Hiltz continues their streak, Emily Mackay and Addy Wiley earn their first national titles.

Issue 397

Pre-chaos at the USATF Half Marathon Championships. (Photo by Welch Suggs)

A race where no one wins

The outcome of Sunday’s USATF Half Marathon Championships was something straight out of a nightmare for many involved. For 63 minutes of the 69-minute race, the event seemed like any other national championship. Shortly before 10K, Emma Grace Hurley, Ednah Kurgat, Carrie Ellwood, and Jess McClain separated themselves from the rest of the field.

In the ninth mile, Ellwood began to drop back, and it was down to three. Hurley and Kurgat were the initial aggressors, with McClain having to work to regain contact a couple of times. But when the racing really began, around 61 minutes in, McClain had an extra gear. She quickly opened up a lead over Hurley and Kurgat.

Sixty-four minutes in, she appeared to be on her way to victory when it became clear that the lead vehicles had led the group off the course. McClain ran in the wrong direction for 80 seconds before turning around. All three runners appeared to become aware of the error at the same time, but McClain had the most ground to make up. After a detour of roughly two minutes and 40 seconds, McClain rejoined the race, but the three runners were now well back in the field, with only a few minutes left to make up ground.

Ellwood, who was still in fourth at the time, also made the wrong turn, but she didn’t go as far before a person on a motorcycle pulled up and told her she was going the wrong way. It understandably took a little convincing for her to believe him.

Molly Born, who had been running in fifth, was the first woman to stick to the correct course, and she broke the tape in 1:09:43. The lead trio was so far in front of her that she thought she was finishing fourth, and race organizers were holding up a finish tape for all the top athletes (which does happen at certain races now).

Ellwood got back on track well enough to finish four seconds back, in 1:09:47. And Annie Rodenfels, who mostly avoided the in-race drama, crossed the line third in her half marathon debut, running 1:10:12.

McClain, who was on track to run 1:08-something before she was led off course, crossed the finish line in ninth, with an official time of 1:11:27. Hurley was officially 12th in 1:11:38, and Kurgat was 13th in 1:11:50.

This is hardly the first time runners have been misdirected in a race, but this situation is made much more complicated by the fact that this was the selection race for the 2026 USATF World Athletics Road Running Championships, which will take place in Copenhagen in September. There’s almost no question that McClain, Hurley, and Kurgat were on their way to making the team, but USATF’s rules and team selection criteria are written in a way that make it tough to do the right thing here.

The athletes who were led off course filed a protest shortly after the race, and the jury of appeals acknowledged that the course was not adequately marked at that spot but could find “no recourse within the USATF rulebook to alter the results order of finish.” So the results are considered final.

USATF’s statement goes on to say, “The [World Championship] team is not officially selected until May. USATF will review the events from Atlanta carefully. While we understand athletes are eager to resolve this issue expeditiously, our process will ensure an ultimate decision is in the best interest of all the athletes involved.”

So, officially, Born wins, but TBD on who’s actually headed to Copenhagen. USATF’s selection criteria state that the top three runners make the team. If an athlete declines their spot, USATF will offer that position to the next highest placing individual, provided that they finish in the top five, which neither McClain, Hurley, or Kurgat did. Each country can start four athletes, and all remaining spots on the team are to be awarded based on athletes’ world ranking as of May 5, 2026. Right now, Weini Kelati, Taylor Roe, and Hurley top the list.

There’s a world in which every U.S. woman could agree that they’re going to decline their spots until McClain, Hurley, and Kurgat are on the team, but that would require a lot of cooperation. McClain is currently ranked seventh, but as of February 24, Kurgat was unranked. She has time to race her way up the list, but it’s TBD whether it would be worth the trouble.

(Getting way into the weeds, there’s a section in the selection criteria, under the header “International Disclaimer” that reads “...the selections are always subject to unforeseen, intervening circumstances, and realistically may not have accounted for every possible contingency.” But it seems to refer to cases where IOC and/or World Athletics rule changes affect the selection process. Going forward, USATF might need a more general disclaimer.)

This is a terrible situation for the would-be top three, the actual top three, and everyone whose result was affected. And it takes the focus away from the athletes’ performances. There’s been talk of the fact that it’s the athletes’ responsibility to know the course, but I can’t imagine running an out-of-town race, having the lead vehicles turn left, and believing that I knew the course better than the locals who were organizing the race. I was glad to see the Atlanta Track Club take full responsibility in their statement. The people who went the right way here did so because race officials told them to, not because they knew the course better.

This is on the race officials who led the runners the wrong way, but I feel for them, too. No one woke up on Sunday morning and decided to ruin the women’s national championship race. Mistakes happen, and this one unfortunately involved some very high stakes. The Atlanta Track Club did many things right on Sunday, and they’ve given so much to support the elite side of the sport, but this one mistake did a lot of damage. (Yes, I know their marathon was short last year. And that’s terrible for those involved. But I maintain that they’ve done a lot of good, which tends not to get as much attention as the mistakes.)

I imagine USATF, despite all of the criticism they get, wants to do the right thing, too. But if they neglect to follow their own rules, they could be putting themselves in a vulnerable position. I’ll be curious to see if the Atlanta Track Club does anything to make up for the prize money McClain, Hurley, or Kurgat missed out on. Their statement seemed to imply that’s where things are headed. The prize money went 10 deep with $20,000 for first, $12,000 for second, and $7,500 for third.

As far as I’ve seen, all of the athletes have handled this situation with class. Born acknowledged the complexity of the situation in her post-race interview and had already inquired about giving up her spot on the team. Rodenfels wrote in her Instagram story that she finished sixth, when the results officially say she was third. McClain’s post-race post was thoughtful, as were Hurley’s and Ellwood’s. Kurgat wrote that she is holding out hope that she, McClain, and Hurley will be named to the U.S. team.

I feel for McClain, who was on her way to making a team by finishing in the top three for the first time. And Hurley, who made the U.S. team last year, before learning that the 2025 World Championships would not take place. She was on her way to making the team for the second year in a row, and then poof. And Kurgat ran an impressive race in her first serious half marathon, but the results don’t reflect her effort.

If nothing else, this is a race no one will forget. Grace Hartman, who was planning to make her half marathon debut, was a late scratch due to injury. (Race replay, from where things went wrong | Results | Hurley’s race on Strava, which shows the wrong turn)

A close race among Nikki Hiltz, Lindsey Butler, and Gracie Morris in the 1500m at the USATF Indoor Championships. (Photo by Gregorio Denny)

Seven in a row for Nikki Hiltz

With the 1500m win on Sunday at the USATF Indoor Championships, Nikki Hiltz has now won every USATF indoor and outdoor 1500 final since 2023. It’s easy to take Hiltz’s winning for granted, but their streak is seriously impressive. Making it to the starting line healthy seven seasons in a row isn’t easy, let alone being fit enough to win and avoiding disaster. But Hiltz is a racer, and it’s clear how much they love trying to find a way to be the first athlete to the finish line. And having a killer kick certainly doesn’t hurt.

With two laps remaining, Lindsey Butler, the 2022 NCAA indoor 800m champion who is now unsponsored, made a big move and looked like she might run her way on to the world indoor team, but Hiltz was always in control. They looked like a cat playing with their prey, and in the final strides, they pounced, winning in 4:11.34.

Meanwhile, Puma Elite’s Gracie Morris was also in the midst of a fantastic race. After leading early, she was only in fourth with 100m to go. But she stayed patient, the inside lane opened up, and she cruised past Butler to take second in 4:11.39. She had the fastest final 100m of anyone in the race. A performance like this has been in the works for a long time, and Morris produced it at a great time, running her way onto her first world championship team on the track.

Butler, who ended up third in 4:11.52, was the surprise of the race, and Sinclaire Johnson also narrowly missed the team, taking fourth in 4:11.59. (1500m replay)

On Saturday, Emily Mackay pulled off an unexpected win in the 3,000m, kicking past Elle St. Pierre, her former New Balance Boston teammate, on the final lap to win, 8:30.01 to 8:31.07. And St. Pierre, who is less than 10 months postpartum with her second child, made another world championship team. Though she has a bronze medal from the 1500m at the 2024 World Indoor Championships, this was Mackay’s first national title. (This story I wrote about her is several years old, but it’s remarkable how far she’s come in a relatively short period of time.)

The last time they raced, about a month earlier, St. Pierre beat Mackay by 12 seconds in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 3,000m, but Mackay produced a five-second personal best here and had the advantage of being the hunter rather than the hunted for most of the race. Rookie Margot Appleton, St. Pierre’s New Balance Boston teammate, ran a strong race to take third in 8:41.41 and make it a New Balance sweep.

Addy Wiley (right) and Valery Tobias go 1-2 in the 800m. (Photo by Gregorio Denny)

In the 800m, some of the drama happened in the prelims when Sage Hurta-Klecker was eliminated in a particularly tough heat. I was impressed by high schooler Paige Sheppard, who ran 2:02.35 and just missed making the final by 0.11 seconds. Addy Wiley earned the easiest-looking win of anyone in the prelims, and that carried over to the final, which she won comfortably in an indoor personal best of 1:59.43, earning her first national title. Wiley, 22, has shown flashes of brilliance throughout her short pro career, and for the first time, it all came together at a national championship race.

Valery Tobias of the Brooks Beasts took second for the second year in a row and made her second world indoor team, running 1:59.77. (If you missed her on the Fast People podcast last year, she was great. And her YouTube channel should have more subscribers than it does.) Meghan Hunter took third in 2:00.03, narrowly missing out on the team. (800m replay | Results)

My favorite matchups of conference weekend

It was conference meet weekend for the NCAA, and while some top athletes and teams are able to treat the weekend as a good workout, others have some serious competition on their hands. Here are some of my favorite matchups from the weekend, with the caveat that I mostly focused on watching the SEC, ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten. The NCAA Indoor T&F Championships, which take place March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, are going to be excellent.

• Oklahoma State’s Billah Jepkirui vs. BYU’s Jane Hedengren in the Big 12 mile. So far in Hedengren’s young NCAA career, she has followed the same blueprint in most of her races: Go out hard and try to wear everyone else down. She attempted to do that on Saturday, but Jepkirui sat right on her, as if Hedengren were her pacer, and kicked to the win on the final lap, 4:23.40 to 4:24.33. Though converted times don’t count for record purposes, because the race took place at slight altitude in Lubbock, Texas, the NCAA considers Jepkirui’s mark to be worth a 4:20.34, faster than Riley Chamberlain’s collegiate record. Jepkirui returned 70 minutes later and won the 1,000m in 2:43.48, and a bit later, Hedengren won the 3,000m in 8:46.11.

• Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker vs. Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich in the ACC 800m. It wasn’t the fastest 800m of the weekend, but conference meets are all about racing. Whittaker led through 400m in a leisurely (for her) 62.48 seconds. But she covered the second half of the race in 59.38 seconds and held off a strong challenge from Chepngetich, the NCAA leader, 2:01.84 to 2:02.02.

• South Carolina’s Salma Elbadra and Florida’s Claire Stegall faced each other on the distance medley relay anchor leg on Thursday night, with Elbadra (4:25.76 1600m split) kicking away from Stegall (4:27.00) to carry her team to a 10:45.64 win. The two met again in the mile final, which Elbadra won, 4:30.72 to 4:30.81. But it was fun to see Stegall, a freshman, learn from her DMR experience and figure out how to keep the race even closer the second time around.

• A lot of the Big Ten distance races unfortunately ended up being Oregon vs. Oregon. It was a particularly busy weekend for Oregon’s Silan Ayyildiz, who won the 5,000m on Thursday (15:37.90), ran the mile prelims on Friday, won the mile final on Saturday (4:37.88), and finished second in the 3,000m, also on Saturday (8:53.87). Without her, Oregon wouldn’t have won the team title.

• And this wasn’t a showdown, but I was surprised by Arkansas’ Sydney Vaught, who soloed a 22-second 5,000m PR of 15:02.52 to win the SEC title. She needed a fast time in order for her season to continue, and she delivered, despite having to weave around many lapped runners. Alabama’s Doris Lemngole had a relatively quiet weekend, winning the SEC 3,000m title in 8:45.90. If Alabama had put her in more events, they could have been looking at a top-three finish or higher, so I am impressed by the restraint they showed. (Big Ten results | Big 12 results | ACC results | SEC results)

Brigid Kosgei wins the Tokyo Marathon, and the coverage is still terrible

The lopsided coverage of the Tokyo Marathon is always disappointing, but it doesn’t surprise me anymore. The people in charge of deciding what to show treat the men’s lead pack as the main event, and everything else—the wheelchair racers, the second and third packs of men, and the women’s leaders—as subplots to check in on every once in a while.

A pack of six women and their male pacers hit halfway in 1:07:37-39. By 30K, the race was down to Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei, the former world record holder, and Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede, who had won the two previous editions of this race. Not too long after, Kosgei pulled away from Kebede, but the coverage missed the move, so by the time the camera was back on Kosgei, at 35K, she had a 22-second lead. Kosgei’s lead only grew from there. She won the race by 2:07 in a course record of 2:14:29. She ran a nice negative split, covering the second half of the race in 1:06:52.

Even after the men finished, we didn’t get to see much of Kosgei. The coverage caught her final kilometer of the race. Between 35K and 40K, Ethiopia’s Bertukan Welde, 21, moved into second place, and she held on to run 2:16:36, an 80-second personal best. After 40K, Ethiopia’s Hawi Feysa moved into third, finishing in 2:17:39. And Kebede held on to take fourth (2:17:39). Ethiopian runners earned six of the top eight spots.

Sara Hall, the top U.S. entrant, hit halfway in 1:11:13, but her last recorded split was at 25K. She said in an Instagram post that “dehydration cramps” shut her down at 29K. Sophia Manners was the top U.S. finisher, taking 29th in a personal best of 2:36:30, which qualified her for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner won the wheelchair race in 1:37:15. (Results)

Diribe Welteji has 16 months left on a two-year ban

Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, one of the best middle distance runners in the world, has been banned from the sport for two years. On February 25, 2025, three anti-doping agents arrived at her house to collect a sample, but her husband told them she was sleeping. No one could agree on what happened after that, but the anti-doping agents left without collecting a sample from Welteji.

A sole arbitrator was more lenient after ruling that language barriers were a factor in the case. Because Welteji had a history of complying with anti-doping requests outside of her designated testing window, the arbitrator determined the incident was “aberrational rather than deliberate.” But they also said that an athlete of her caliber should know better.

The Ethiopian National Anti-Doping Office originally ruled that Welteji did not commit an anti-doping rule violation, but World Athletics pushed for Welteji to be provisionally suspended in advance of September’s world championships. Welteji, who is only 23, will remain ineligible until June 30, 2027. Her results from February 25, 2025 on have been disqualified. Most notably, that means she will lose her silver medal from the 1500m at last year’s World Indoor Championships. That moves Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell from bronze to silver, and Australia’s Georgia Griffith from fourth to bronze.

Florida’s Claire Stegall

Other News

• Emily Infeld announced that she is pregnant with her first child, who is due in August.

• I was interested to read here that Florida’s Claire Stegall, who has had a breakthrough freshman season, running 4:25.91 in the mile, runs only around 20 miles per week, though the mention of the anti-gravity treadmill suggests there may be additional running that isn’t included in that total.

• The LA Marathon announced its pro field last week and there are a lot of people in it who have run fast, but not recently. Defending champion Tejinesh Tulu of Ethiopia is back, and I’ll be curious to see what Ethiopia’s Alem Tsadik, who was seventh at World Cross in January, can do in her debut. Makenna Myler, Savannah Berry, and Kellyn Taylor are the top Americans in the field.

• TBD how active it will be, but Molly Seidel now has a Substack.

• This was one of those weekends where one could watch races almost nonstop, but it wasn’t cheap. I often wonder how much I would be willing to pay, if anything, to watch track if this wasn’t my job. This weekend, I relied on a FloTrack subscription, a RunnerSpace subscription, and a Peacock subscription. And then I had to pay an extra $36ish or so to get cable and ESPN select subscriptions to watch conference meets, and a USATF TV subscription so I could watch day one of USATF Indoors. (And the quality of the USATF stream, at least at my house, was awful.)

Abby Shoemaker wins the Napa Valley Marathon. (Photo by Steven Anderson)

Additional Results

• Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell won the 800m at the Scottish Athletics Indoor Invitational, running 1:57.80 (replay). And her teammate, Keely Hodgkinson, ran an indoor 400m personal best of 51.49 (replay).

• Abby Shoemaker won the Napa Valley Marathon in 2:35:50 and qualified for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Yes, the race is USATF sanctioned. Grace Connolly won the half marathon in 1:14:49. (Results)

• Ann Marie Pierce ran 2:36:43 to win the Wilmington Marathon (also USATF sanctioned) and qualified for the Trials. (Results)

• Liz Galarza won the Greenville Half Marathon in 1:11:32. (Results)

• Grace Clements won the Atlanta Marathon in 2:39:08. (Results)

• Shauneen Werlinger and Serena Burla went 1-2 at the One City Marathon, both running 2:44:47. Canada’s Cleo Boyd won the half marathon in 1:13:36. (Results)

Podcast Highlights

• Molly Seidel recapped her fourth-place finish at the Black Canyon 100K on the Ali on the Run Show. “I had an enormous amount of success very early on in the marathon, and it burned me out very quickly,” she said. “And so I think for me, being able to focus on the longevity and using this year to build up strength to set myself up for the next few years is the goal. If I get to be successful in my first year doing it, that’s great. But I’m trying to focus on the process of all this rather than the outcome right away.”

• I am grateful to Gabi Rooker for opening up about a number of difficult topics on the latest episode of Fast People. She discussed life in the Twin Cities amidst ICE’s invasion, the myomectomy she underwent in December, her fertility experience thus far, the panic attack she suffered at last year’s Boston Marathon, and overcoming all of that to try to run her best at this year’s edition of the race.

• I think that few outlets do a better job of demonstrating how one can both be a sports fan and be critical of the sports they love than the hosts of Burn It All Down. I thought Amira Rose Davis’ recent conversation with Jules Boykoff, about the Olympics, was particularly good.

• Carolina Rubio-MacWright talked ICE, immigration, and trail running on the Trail Society podcast.

• I always appreciate hearing from Emily Sisson, who was on Road to the Trials, and Fiona O’Keeffe, who talked about some of her Boston Marathon prep, on The Marathon Podcast (starting at the 8:20 mark).

Additional Episodes: Grayson Murphy discussed the mixed feelings she’s dealing with during pregnancy on Six Minute Mile | Megan Sailor discussed her 2:25 marathon debut on I’ll Have Another | Katie Asmuth discussed finishing fifth at the Tarawera 102K on her 40th birthday on The Trail Network Podcast | Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Piper Atnip on Road to the Trials | Jeannie Rice on Starting Line 1928

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This was a much longer day than I expected, thanks to everything that unfolded at the USATF Half Marathon Championships. I’m exhausted. Thanks to everyone who helps keep this newsletter going, especially in these unsponsored weeks, with your support via support via Venmo or Patreon.

I hope you all have the best week possible.

Alison