Fast Women: A very busy week in running
The Mini, a 14:03 5,000m, Jane Hedengren, big change for New Balance Boston, a new pro group, and much more.
Issue 354, sponsored by the Flagpole Hill Fund
When the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying standards were released last Monday, I dove into covering that. I wasn’t expecting so much other news to come out later in the week. But because of my miscalculation, I have written a separate newsletter all about the Trials.
Hellen Obiri wins her first New York Mini 10K, and Weini Kelati has a big day
Just before the five-mile mark of Saturday’s New York Mini 10K, there were still five women in the lead pack. But with Weini Kelati pushing the pace, it quickly became a two-woman race between Kelati and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri. Kelati did her best to shake Obiri in the final mile, but Obiri sat on her before making a big move with less than 800m to go. On a sticky New York day, Obiri earned her first win at the Mini in 30:44, and Kelati held on to take second in 30:49.
After going through 5K in 15:35, Obiri covered the second half of the race in 15:09. She earned $10,000 for the win, and Kelati actually earned more—$8,000 for taking second and another $5,000 for being the top American.
When the pack split up just before five miles, Ethiopia’s Gotytom Gebreslase was the first to fall off the back, but she reeled in Taylor Roe and Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi to take third in 30:54. Roe was fourth (30:58) and Lokedi placed fifth (31:13).
The field was impressively deep, with Amanda Vestri (sixth, 31:20), Kenya’s Grace Loibach Nawowuna (seventh, 31:34), Emma Grace Hurley (eighth, 31:42), Bailey Hertenstein (ninth, 31:48), and Belgium’s Juliette Thomas (10th, 31:52) rounding out the top 10.
Four weeks after her runner-up finish at the Boston Marathon, Obiri finished fourth at England’s Great Manchester Run 10K. It wasn’t a terrible race, but she looked a lot more like herself on Saturday, nearly seven weeks out from Boston.
And this was a huge day for Kelati. She finished between two world champions and ran faster than Shalane Flanagan’s American 10K record of 30:52, but the race includes too much elevation loss to be record-eligible. (The maximum allowable drop for record setting is 1m/km, and the Mini course drops 1.5m/km.) But considering the humid conditions and the challenging course, I have no doubt that Kelati is capable of setting the record. Kelati also ran faster than Roe’s pending women’s-only 10K American record of 30:56.
After some struggles earlier this year, Kelati is clearly back on track. Both she and Obiri went on NYRR’s Set the Pace podcast shortly after the race and Kelati discussed some of the details of what she’s been going through. (If you’re curious, it starts at the 26:40 mark.)
Kelati didn’t mention a diagnosis but said she’s been dealing with stomach problems. Doctors have done a bunch of tests, and she’s now on a medication that is helping. She said it wasn’t just a race-time thing, she was having troubles at all hours of the day, and she wasn’t able to train for a bit after the USATF Half Marathon Championships. She said she felt it a little during Saturday’s race, but it wasn’t bad, and she’s generally feeling much better.
Next up, she’ll race the 5,000m at the Prefontaine Classic, and she plans to run the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships, where she should be one of the favorites to make the U.S. team in whichever event(s) she chooses. As of now, she’s planning to do the 10,000m, but it sounds like she’s keeping her options open.
Roe also continued to impress, holding her own against a world-class field. She’s done so much front-running this year that I was glad to see her hang back and key off some of the favorites. After the lead pack broke up in the final mile, Lokedi lost a lot of ground, but she said in an Instagram story that she was very happy with her race. She has taken her time getting back into focused training after the Boston Marathon, and taking that down time will likely pay off in the long term.
There were also some notable absences on Saturday. Alysia Montaño announced on that broadcast that Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi, who won the last three editions of the Mini, was not in New York to defend her title because she is pregnant with her first child. Emily Sisson did make it to New York, but she said in an Instagram story that illness prevented her from lining up for the race. She is expecting to be back in time for the Boston 10K on June 22.
The Mini has had a wheelchair division only since 2018, and Susannah Scaroni is the only person ever to win it. She earned her sixth-consecutive title on Saturday, covering the course in 20:49 and breaking her own event record. She said on the Set the Pace podcast that she thought the fact that the roads of Central Park had recently been repaved helped with the fast time. She earned $2,500 for her win.
Marilyn Bevans, the first Black American woman to break 3:00 in the marathon as well as the first to win a marathon, is now 75, and she finished the race in 1:22:27. This year’s Mini had nearly 10,000 finishers. (Results | Race replay)
Thanks to the Flagpole Hill Fund for supporting Fast Women this month
This month, Flagpole Hill Fund is proud to recognize individuals and organizations that are using running to improve lives and improving lives for runners.
Robyn McGillis and Marie Markham founded Wildwood Running to address the lack of resources and support for young women in cross country and track & field. They focus on critical areas such as mental health, nutrition, self confidence, and long-term development, aiming to empower female middle school and high school distance runners through education, mentorship, and community engagement.
Drawing from their experiences as athletes and coaches, Robyn and Marie recognized the importance of honest conversations and guidance beyond training plans. Wildwood Running provides workshops, camps, and online content designed to foster both athletic and personal growth.
Their mission is to equip young women with the tools to thrive in running and life, encouraging them to discover their inner strength and build meaningful connections. By doing so, they strive to create a culture in the sport that is inclusive, informed, and empowering for the next generation.
Beatrice Chebet runs second-fastest 5,000m ever, Josette Andrews moves to third on the U.S. all-time list
Any time Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet races these days, records are likely to fall. But at Friday’s Rome Diamond League meet, a world record was apparently not the goal. The pace lights for the women’s 5,000m were set to 14:12, the meet record. Chebet followed the pacers early, picked up the pace slightly once they were gone, and then took off with about four laps to go.
Even though she let the world record pace go early, Chebet won the race in 14:03.69—a Kenyan record and the second-fastest time ever run, behind only Gudaf Tsegay’s 14:00.21 world record.
“I was planning to run 14:15, but I felt like my body was moving and I decided to go,” Chebet said afterward. “So I see that my body is in a good shape and I am capable of the world record. So now I am going home and will prepare for it. Everything is possible. If I get someone who will push me up to 3,000m, it is possible.” Chebet will have another shot at a fast 5,000m at the Prefontaine Classic (weather permitting).
Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu took second (14:19.33), and Nadia Battocletti took third in an Italian record of 14:23.15. Tsegay was in the race, but she was well off her best, finishing fifth in 14:24.86.
Josette Andrews led the Americans with a fantastic run, placing sixth in an 18-second PR of 14:25.37, which moves her to third on the U.S. all-time list, behind only her teammate, Alicia Monson, and Shelby Houlihan. She went out aggressively, following the train of athletes through 2K before dropping back. But even when she fell off, she held on to a good pace and was reeling athletes in at the end.
Andrews’ previous PR was a 14:43.36 from 2023, but she had never run the event at a Diamond League meet before, and she benefitted from having a lot of bodies to chase. After a rough year last year, things are really coming together for Andrews, and she’s poised to be a major threat at the USATF Outdoor Championships.
The other two Americans in the race, Houlihan and Karissa Schweizer, followed the train through four laps in 4:36 before dropping off. Houlihan held on to finish 10th in 14:45.29, which gives her the world championships standard, and Schweizer was 16th in 14:56.38. Schweizer said in an Instagram post that she didn’t have the best buildup leading into the race, and “all things considered, it’s a solid starting point.”
Ireland’s Sarah Healy won the 1500m in 3:59.15, with Australians Sarah Billings (second, 3:59.24) and Abbey Caldwell (third, 3:59.32) right behind her. Heather MacLean edged out Kenya’s Susan Ejore for fourth, 3:59.71 to 3:59.73. (Results | Detailed 5,000m splits | 5,000m replay)
Ali Feller shares that her cancer has spread
Through eight years and 813 episodes of the Ali on the Run Show, Ali Feller has made herself an integral part of the running community. She has brought runners together, cheered them on, made people care about the athletes at the front, middle, and back of the pack. And her listeners have come to care about her, too, whether they know her personally or not.
On a heartbreaking episode of her show last week, Feller revealed that two years after her initial cancer diagnosis and shortly after her 40th birthday, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer that has spread to her bones. I know that many people in the running community are struggling with this news and want to help in some way. She wrote in a post in her Facebook group yesterday that when she thinks of ways people can help from afar, she will let everyone know.
No one wants national news outlets covering their cancer diagnosis, but the fact that People and Today have covered the news is a sign of the impact she has had on the community, something I imagine she never could have envisioned when she recorded her first episode in 2017.
Heather MacLean and Emily Mackay leave New Balance Boston
LetsRun’s Jonathan Gault broke the news last week that Olympians Heather MacLean and Emily Mackay have left New Balance Boston. This is notable because it happened mid-season, both athletes made incredible leaps while part of the team, and the training group has now lost half of its U.S. Olympians.
Another of the team’s Olympians, Elle St. Pierre, had her second child on May 6, so she’s not training with the group at the moment.
And the team’s fourth Olympian, Parker Valby, is currently rehabbing a foot injury. Valby has appeared to struggle with the transition to being based in Boston. The team’s coach, Mark Coogan, told Gault that she is living in Gainesville, Florida, for now, while she recovers from her injury. The plan is for her to join the team at altitude camps, and Coogan is hoping Valby will be ready in time to race the USATF Outdoor Championships.
MacLean’s agent told Gault that she will be coached by Juli Benson going forward, and provided the following statement from MacLean: “Mark is an incredible coach and someone I truly care about. He brought me from 4:19 to 3:58 and helped me make my first Olympic team. It’s been an amazing journey, and I’ll always cherish the memories we made together. I just felt it was time for a change, and after speaking with Juli Benson, I knew in my gut it was the right move for me.”
Benson already had a solid roster of athletes, but in recent months, she has added MacLean, Nikki Hiltz, Annie Rodenfels, and Colleen Quigley.
Mackay’s agent told Gault that she is still sponsored by New Balance and that she hadn’t made a final decision about her next training group yet, as far as he knew. Last week, she was working out with Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen and Bailey Hertenstein, both of the Union Athletics Club. Though most of the running world just learned this news, clearly it didn’t just happen, because both athletes are already working on their next moves.
Coogan told Gault that New Balance Boston plans to add additional athletes to the team after this weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. As of now, the remaining athletes on NBB’s women’s roster are St. Pierre, Valby, German Olympian Lea Meyer, Kate Mitchell, Katrina Coogan, and Millie Paladino.
When Benson was on the Fast People podcast back in March, she made the point that with the shoe companies in charge of training groups, athletes sometimes get funneled to teams, and they aren’t always a good fit.
“That can be tough, especially if you’re really loving your team chemistry and everybody’s sort of on the same page,” Benson said. “And a shoe company says, ‘Hey, take on this new, younger athlete.’ Maybe they’re great physically…but maybe they don’t buy in philosophically to what’s evolved with your group.”
I think it’s interesting that companies are playing around with what the right model is, and it’s still a work in progress. Nike’s Swoosh TC model is promising, because of the level of flexibility it gives its athletes. And it does seem like more and more brands are trying to give their athletes freedom as far as where they are based and who coaches them.
I love seeing Benson become a go-to coach after years of plugging away in the profession. And it sounds like a lot of it started with Madie Boreman telling Emma Gee and Quigley that she really liked her coach. The way athletes are flocking to Benson tells me she has a way of relating to athletes that they really appreciate. It also suggests there’s a need for more pro coaching options, especially now that Mike Smith has become exclusively a Nike coach. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Colleen Quigley launches a new pro running team
On a semi-related note, Colleen Quigley announced last week that she has launched a professional track & field team alongside founding members Annie Rodenfels, Katie Camarena, Madie Boreman, Molly Sughroue, and Skylyn Webb. The team, Meridia, will be athlete-owned and female-led, but they plan to have athletes of all genders on the team.
The group will be brand-agnostic, meaning that team members can sign shoe/apparel deals with any company they want, and they hope to bring in non-endemic sponsors to help support the team. Athletes will be able to choose their own coaches, and Juli Benson (there she is again!) will serve as an advisor to the team. Benson currently coaches five of the six athletes on the team, but Camarena is coached by her college coach, Josh Seitz.
The team’s hub will be in Boulder, Colorado. Most of the athletes currently train together, but team members will be allowed to live elsewhere when it makes sense. Quigley herself is based in Los Angeles, but will go back and forth. And Quigley said in an Instagram live that Rodenfels will be moving to Colorado later in the summer.
Quigley was on the For the Long Run and Second Nature podcasts last week, and it was interesting to hear her describe some of the problems she’s seen with other teams that she is trying to fix. The latter was recorded more recently, so what she discussed on that episode seems to be a more up-to-date version of her vision.
“It feels like I complain about a lot about things I see in the sport that I don’t think are right,” she said on Second Nature. “And so I just said, ‘You know what? Fuck it. I’ve got to stop complaining and do something about it.’ And the biggest thing that I complain about is the way that teams are set up in track and field.”
Quigley wants to build Meridia in a way that works for the athletes, something she feels is lacking in some other pro groups. She plans for the team to have a strong social media presence, and she has mentioned YouTube and starting a podcast in her interviews. Jason Suarez is leading the team’s creative strategy.
Quigley said on Instagram that she thought a team name would come to her with time, but finding the right one proved to be a more painstaking process than she was expecting. Meridia comes from the word meridian.
Meridia will hold a virtual mile race August 9–23, which will help fund the team. I always appreciate people trying new things in the sport, and I hope this one is a success.
Jane Hedengren’s incredible week
I don’t cover high school running much, because I don’t think high school kids have a lot to gain from getting more attention. But it’s impossible to ignore what Utah high school senior Jane Hedengren just accomplished in a three-day span. On Thursday evening, at the HOKA Festival of Miles in St. Louis, she dominated the high school mile, running a U.S. high school and North American U20 record of 4:23.50 and winning by 12 seconds. (Results | Race replay)
By Sunday afternoon, Hedengren was in Seattle for the Brooks PR meet, where she produced an even more impressive performance, running 9:17.75 for two miles. She broke her own high school record, set in April, by 16.37 seconds. And sure, the two-mile isn’t run a lot beyond the high school level, but she moved to seventh on the U.S. all-time list, among some stellar company.
She said afterward that she’ll run one more high school race, the Nike Outdoor Nationals 3,000m, before heading to BYU. (Results | Race replay)
New Jersey’s Paige Sheppard also impressed in the Brooks PR 800m, running 2:01.50. (Results | Race replay)
Other News
Nike announced last week that if you happen to find yourself in Paris on June 26, you can register to attend Faith Kipyegon’s sub-4:00 mile attempt in person. If you’re not there, there will be many ways to watch online, including Nike’s YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok accounts. I hate to promote anything on Amazon, but for Kipyegon, I will. Nike also announced that they have teamed up with Box To Box Films to produce a limited-series documentary about Kipyegon’s sub-4:00 attempt. They will release a 50-minute episode on Prime Video on June 20, and the second episode will come out in July.
Betsy Saina, Susanna Sullivan, and Erika Kemp will represent the U.S. in the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The women’s marathon takes place on September 14. USATF announced the team last week, and the only (mild) surprise in there was Kemp. Saina and Sullivan occupied the top two spots on the descending order list, but Fiona O’Keeffe and Emily Sisson both passed up their spots. Jess McClain is the alternate.
The Prefontaine Classic announced last week that their women’s 5,000m (and men’s 10,000m) will serve as the selection races for Kenya’s world championship team. Beatrice Chebet is the only Kenyan woman among the runners who have been announced thus far. The race takes place July 5.
Track & Field News regularly updates their list of links to outside news articles, and last week, they linked to a document (page 19) that indicated that Utah Valley’s Everlyn Kemboi is no longer the 2023 NCAA 10,000m champion. There’s a symbol next to her name that indicates “participation in the championships vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions,” and there’s no other information. I don’t know if this is new, or if it happened a while ago and they just noticed. I reached out to her former coach for more information, but I have not received a response. Emily Venters, who was running for Utah, finished second in the race.
On Friday, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA Settlement, which will allow Division I schools to pay athletes directly. For more on what it all means, listen to Sarah Lorge Butler’s Fast People episode with Victoria Jackson. After much debate over roster limits, schools are allowed to give student-athletes their roster spots back, if they’re losing them due to the changes in the settlement, but they are not required to do so.
Ethiopia’s Tadu Teshome, 23, ran a 2:17:36 marathon when she was only 21 years old. Now she has been banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit for 22 months for having three whereabouts failures in less than 12 months. It’s interesting that the decision acknowledges that a language barrier was a factor in her case. In an ideal world, athletes would be able to communicate their whereabouts in their language of choice.
The AIU announced last week that because the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Russia’s Ekaterina Guliyev’s appeal of her doping ban, she is set to lose her 2012 Olympic 800m silver medal. So it’s official. South Africa’s Caster Semenya (originally second) will be the gold medalist, Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo (originally fourth) will be upgraded to silver, and Alysia Montaño (originally fifth) will earn bronze. The original winner, Russia’s Mariya Savinova, was also banned for doping, and she was stripped of her title in 2017.
Something fun: I love this video of Brooklyn Anderson winning the 100m hurdles at the Oregon state meet, combining her track and gymnastics skills.
Additional Results
On her 26th birthday, Kayley DeLay won the Yakima Mile in 4:24. (Results)
Sunday’s Mission Run Baltimore High Performance meet was small, but it produced some strong performances. Nia Akins won the 800m in 1:59.06 and Skylyn Webb took second in 1:59.32. Webb’s performance was the first big one for Meridia; she lowered her PR by 2.15 seconds. (Results)
Uganda’s Sarah Chelangat won France’s FAST5000, a track race, in 14:46.41 and Canada’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford continued her strong return with a 14:47.83 runner-up finish, her fastest time in more than three years. (Results)
Four days before her Italian 5,000m record in Rome, Nadia Battocletti won the 1500m at last Monday’s Palio Città della Quercia in Rovereto, Italy, running a PR of 3:58.15. Australia’s Linden Hall took second (3:58.70), and Helen Schlachtenhaufen was third in 4:00.69, less than a second off of her PR. Dani Jones was fourth in 4:03.35. Italy’s Eloisa Coiro won the 800m in 1:59.51. (Results)
At the HOKA Festival of Miles, Christina Aragon edged out Krissy Gear to win the pro mile, 4:29.38 to 4:29.43. (Results)
The Brooks PR meet also had a pro 800m, which Val Tobias won in 2:02.00. Washington’s Claire Yerby took second in 2:02.69, a big PR. (Results)
In rainy conditions, Eleanor Fulton won Norway’s 1500m Elite Jessheim in 4:11.17. (Results)
South Africa’s Gerda Steyn won the Comrades Marathon for the fourth time.
At the Impala Stampede 5K in San Francisco, Jenny Hitchings set a American 60–64 age-group record of 19:02. (Results)
Additional Podcasts
Sarah Lorge Butler talked to 2025 Boston Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi on the Fast People podcast. There are so many athletes at the top of the sport who we know very little about, so I always appreciate hearing more from Lokedi. And she’s truly a delight. She was also on NYRR’s Set the Pace podcast last week. She joins that episode at the 16:20 mark.
I really enjoyed hearing from Canada’s Stephanie Case on The Freetrail Podcast. She recently went viral for winning the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100K despite taking breaks to feed her six-month-old along the way. She spoke candidly about her struggles with infertility and many of the challenges that mothers face. But my favorite part was hearing her discuss people’s reactions to her viral story—which varied dramatically—in a thoughtful way. That part starts around the 51-minute mark.
Alicia Monson made an appearance on the Conversation Pace with FRE podcast because she’s involved with their summer running camp. The episode was mostly directed at their campers, but I, too, appreciated the update. She said that after her surgery last year, she couldn’t stand on her leg for six weeks, and it was 3–4 months before she could run at 50 percent body weight. More than a year later, things are finally starting to click. Monson's family was proactive about booking their trip to Paris for the Olympics, and though it turned out she was unable to run the Trials due to injury, she and her family went on the trip anyway. It was good to hear that she was still able to enjoy herself, and she found a silver lining in the fact that she got to spend a lot more time around her family than she would have if she was racing at the Olympics.
Two-time Cocodona 250 champion Rachel Entrekin was on Women of Distance. She said a lot of things, but the one I got stuck on is the fact that she tried out for her high school cross country team and did not make the cut. Cross country coaches: Make sure that your standards aren’t so high that you end up turning away a future ultrarunning champion!
Additional Episodes: Ari Hendrix discussed her move to the trails on The Lane 9 Podcast | MIT coach Julie Heyde discussed leading her team to a triple crown—NCAA DIII titles in XC, indoor, and outdoor track—on D3 Glory Days
The NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin on Wednesday, with the women competing on Thursday and Saturday. This page has information about where to watch. (Day one for the women is on ESPN, and day two will be on ESPNU.) And the schedule, start lists, and results are here.
Outside of multi-day championship meets, I can’t remember there being this much women’s running news in one week during the 6+ years I’ve been writing this newsletter. Thanks again to the Flagpole Hill Fund for supporting Fast Women this month, and if you’re not familiar with Wildwood Running, I highly recommend checking them out; I’ve been a big fan of their work since the beginning.
Thanks, also, to all of you who help keep Fast Women going via your support on Venmo and Patreon. Every little bit makes a difference.
I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison