Fast Women: Beatrice Chebet repeats as World XC champion
15-year-old Marta Alemayo bursts onto the scene with U20 win.
Issue 285, sponsored by Bombas
Before I jump into the latest news, I wanted to thank you wholeheartedly for your generous response to my appeal for support last week. Keeping a venture like this afloat is never going to be easy, but your kindness helps tremendously, and I appreciate it so much.
Led by Beatrice Chebet, Kenya dominates World Cross Country senior race
In the senior women’s 10K race at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, the Kenyan women were so good that they took the suspense out of the team race early. Three laps into the five-lap race, five Kenyan women—Beatrice Chebet, Lilian Kasait Rengeruk, Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, Emmaculate Anyango Achol, and Agnes Jebet Ngetich—had already broken away from the rest of the field. They had the team title in the bag; the last two laps would determine their order of finish.
This year’s event took place in Belgrade, Serbia, and the course was mostly flat but included staggered hay bales, a couple of artificial hills, a mud pit, and rough footing. Adding to the challenge, the weather was unseasonably warm, around 80 degrees.
Halfway through the last lap, all five Kenyans were still together. Chebet, the defending champion, kicked with about 200m to go and won in 31:05. Rengeruk took second (31:08), Kipkemboi was third (31:09), and Achol was fourth (31:24). Only four runners score at World Cross, so Ngetich, who took fifth in 31:27, didn’t count toward her team’s total. (She later said she wasn’t feeling well, and mentioned dealing with menstrual cramps.) But she still beat every other country’s top runner by 33 seconds or more. Uganda’s Sarah Chelangat finished sixth in 32:00.
“It is not easy to come to a world championship and defend your title, there is a lot of pressure,” Chebet said after the race. “My target was to be on the podium. I felt I was stronger with about 500m to go. The course was so good, the weather was good like in Kenya, very sunny, and the obstacles were not as hard.”
A Kenyan woman has now won the individual title at the last nine editions of this event, dating back to 2009. Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey was in position to win this race a year ago but collapsed within sight of the finish line.
Ethiopia went 8-10-11-12 (41 points) for silver and Uganda went 6-9-13-16 (44 points) to earn bronze. The U.S. women, led by Weini Kelati, finished fourth with 113 points. It was their best finish since 2013, when they also finished fourth. The last time the U.S. earned a team medal at World Cross was 2011, when they were led by Shalane Flanagan, who won bronze. (Senior women’s results | If you register for a free account, you can watch eight minutes of race highlights here)
Weini Kelati goes for it
Weini Kelati has been on a tear recently, and knowing she was fitter than ever, she took a chance and went out with the lead pack. She was able to hang on for almost three laps, but over the last 4K, the early pace, combined with the heat, hit her hard.
She told LetsRun’s Jonathan Gault that with two laps to go, she felt really hot. And with one lap to go, she couldn’t control her legs. Kelati was still in seventh place at that point. Though she lost ground over the final lap, she held on well, considering, and finished 15th in 32:53, six places higher than she finished in 2023. Kelati spent some time in the medical tent after the race, but she said she was okay.
Last week, Outside Run published a great piece by Sarah Gearhhart that included more details of her story than I’ve seen anywhere else. It’s worth a read.
Allie Ostrander had a really strong showing, moved up nicely throughout the race, and was the next U.S. runner across the line, taking 30th in 34:11. Abby Nichols (33rd, 34:27) and Emma Grace Hurley (34:32) rounded out the scoring for the U.S. Cailie Logue finished 58th (36:14), and Katie Camarena was unable to finish the race. Her last recorded split was around 6K.
Thanks to Bombas for supporting Fast Women this month
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The mixed relay wasn’t close, but it was dramatic
The mixed relay was added to the World Cross Country Championships in 2017; each team has two women and two men, and each runs a roughly 2K loop. The men led off and early on, it appeared that the race would come down to a battle between Kenya and Ethiopia. They stayed together through the first two legs, but on the third leg, Kenya’s Kyumbe Munguti opened up a roughly 12-second lead.
Ethiopia would have had its work cut out closing that gap anyway, but on the last handoff, one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen in a relay race happened. When Adehena Kasaye was handing off to anchor Birri Abera, he stepped on the back of her shoe and gave her a “flat tire.” She tried to put her shoe back on before taking off, but she gave up and set out with only one shoe. She lost another eight seconds or so in the exchange zone, and Kenya’s lead grew, because running with one shoe is tough.
The Kenyan team of Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot, Virginia Nyambura, Munguti, and Purity Chepkirui won the race in 22:15 and Ethiopia finished second, 28 seconds back.
The race for third was exciting, and thanks to a fantastic run by Ella Donaghu, for a while there, it looked like the U.S. had a shot at winning bronze. Kasey Knevelbaard led off for the U.S., and handed off in eighth place, 15 seconds out of third. On the second leg, Donaghu moved up to third, five seconds ahead of the next team. She split 5:35 and was the second- fastest runner on that leg, behind only Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka, who ran one second faster. Donaghu has found her event; unfortunately it usually only takes place every other year.
John Reniewicki did an admirable job of keeping the U.S. in third place on the third leg. He handed off with a three-second cushion over Great Britain, who had moved into fourth. Unfortunately, Katie Izzo had a rough time on the anchor leg and ran only the ninth-fastest split. Great Britain moved up to win bronze in 23:00. And the U.S. dropped to a distant eighth, in 23:21.
It was surprising that Izzo made it to the starting line at all. She ran some great cross country races over the winter and was a favorite to make the U.S. 10K squad. But during the USATF Cross Country Championships on January 20, she broke her foot and finished eighth, when only the top six made the team. At that point, it seemed like she had no hope of running World Cross. But when the team was announced on March 7, I was surprised to see her included in the mixed relay, given the broken foot. (If you’re wondering how the mixed relay team is selected, flip to page two in this document.)
Izzo told LetsRun that she took five weeks off of running after the USATF Championships, which didn’t give her much time to prepare for this race. (Mixed relay results | Race highlights, registration required)
Newcomer Marta Alemayo wins the U20 race
While Kenya dominated the senior race, Ethiopia dominated the U20 race. They swept the top three spots, with 15-year-old Marta Alemayo winning the 6K race in 19:28, Asayech Ayichew taking second (19:32), and Robe Dida taking third (19:38). Until the day of the race, Alemayo didn’t even have a World Athletics bio page, but apparently she finished fourth at the Ethiopian Trials. Stars like Beatrice Chebet, Letesenbet Gidey, and Faith Kipyegon won this race when they were juniors, so remember Alemayo’s name.
Ethiopia went 1-2-3-6 (12 points) to take the team title, and Kenya went 4-5-7-12 (28 points) to earn silver. Uganda won bronze with 48 points, and the U.S. finished fourth, with 88 points, after earning bronze a year ago.
Ellie Shea (15th, 20:50) and Allie Zealand (16th, 21:08) led the U.S. team. Mary Bonner Dalton (28th, 21:40) and Zariel Macchia (29th, 21:42) rounded out the scoring. Jolena Quarzo finished 41st (22:13), and Maddie Gardiner took 49th (22:36).
Normally World Cross takes place every other year, but pandemic-related delays led to back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024. The next edition will take place in Tallahassee, Florida, on January 10, 2026. The U.S. always sends some very good runners, but it will be really fun if all the big guns show up on home soil. (U20 results | Race highlights, registration required)
Jess McClain signs with Brooks
After her surprise fourth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Jess McClain said she was interested in becoming a sponsored athlete again. But she wanted to do things a little differently the second time around. And last week, McClain, 32, announced that she has signed with Brooks Running, the same company that sponsored her from 2015–18, and things will indeed be different this time.
McClain provided more details about the arrangement in this Runner’s World article from Cindy Kuzma and on the Citius Mag podcast last week. She told Kuzma that she put together a one-pager about herself and sent it to several non-running brands after the Trials. No one bit, but she did talk to four different shoe companies. McClain negotiated her own deal but told Citius, “I will definitely not be leading a Ted Talk on how to negotiate contracts.”
The last time McClain was with Brooks, she was a member of the Brooks Beasts, which meant living in Seattle and being coached by Danny Mackey. But she went into her negotiations with some non-negotiables, and Brooks agreed to all of them. She will remain in Arizona, she isn’t required to do any altitude stints, and she’ll remain self-coached for now. McClain said Brooks’ initial offer was great.
While she plans to keep her job as the executive director of the Johnjay & Rich #LoveUp Foundation, this deal will allow her to back off on some of the marketing consulting jobs she has been doing and cover a lot of the expenses that come along with being a high-level athlete.
It seems that in recent years, an increasing number of brands have become more flexible about letting athletes choose training settings that make them happy, rather than requiring them to move to a specific location to train with a team. McClain said she’s hoping to qualify for the Olympic Trials in the 10,000m.
Other News and Links
On Thursday night at Texas Relays, sophomore Elizabeth Leachman narrowly broke the high school 5,000m record, running 15:25.27 and shaving 0.66 seconds off of Natalie Cook’s record from 2022. Despite racing a field of collegians, she led the entire race and won by 34 seconds. Runner’s World published a good piece on Leachman by Sarah Lorge Butler last week. Leachman’s coach, Jenny Breuer, told Lorge Butler they’re working on her pacing, and it’s good to hear that the adults in her life are trying to take the pressure off and keeping the long term in mind.
It’s been a while since the Bowerman Track Club added to its women’s roster, but last week, Kaylee Mitchell announced that she has signed with the team. Most recently, she finished 10th in the NCAA indoor 3,000m and 12th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships last fall. Her highest NCAA individual finish was sixth in the steeplechase in 2022, and she is a 9:24.01 steepler. Mitchell did a Q&A (scroll down) with the Lap Count last week.
Maegan Krifchin’s baby, Mason Eli McDonald, has arrived. This is particularly notable because Krifchin ran 18 miles of the Olympic Marathon Trials seven months into her pregnancy.
Footwear News published a feature on Fiona O’Keeffe, following her surprise win at the Trials.
The Portland Press Herald published a nice article about Maine native Rachel Smith.
Spain’s Carmela Cardama Báez, who won the 2021 NCAA 10,000m title while at the University of Oregon, said over the weekend that she has left the On Athletics Club. She said she fully committed to the training, recovery, and so on, but it didn’t lead to the results she had hoped for.
Boise State announced last week, mid-season, that Corey Ihmels is no longer the school’s head cross country and track & field coach.
The Boston Globe reported last week that B.A.A. CEO Jack Fleming privately apologized to the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, a consortium of more than 40 police departments in the Boston area, for the way the B.A.A. addressed the conflict that happened at mile 21 of last year’s Boston Marathon. The council told the B.A.A. they would not help staff this year’s race if they didn’t apologize, so Fleming wrote an email that said, among other things, that the B.A.A. “did not properly recognize the important role [police] play in the marathon and that you followed police protocol.” Many in the running community felt that the B.A.A.’s apology to the spectators after last year’s race did not go far enough, but it sounds like the police thought it went too far. All of the 2024 pre-race coverage surrounding last year’s incident, which involved the police blocking predominantly Black running groups from cheering at mile 21 of the race, is making me uneasy about the chance of conflict again this year.
Additional Results
In the 1500m at Raleigh Relays, Providence College’s Kimberley May was the only one to go with rabbit Angel Piccirillo, and she opened a significant gap on the field. With one lap remaining, May still led by about five seconds, but her teammate Shannon Flockhart ran her last 400m in 63.53 seconds and caught May in the closing strides. Flockhart won, 4:08.84 to 4:09.22, and now they have the top two times in the NCAA. Heather MacLean hadn’t raced since July because she’s been building back after an injury, and she finished seventh in 4:14.20. (She also ran 2:03.15 in the 800m the following day.) Virginia’s Margot Appleton won the 5,000m in 15:18.21, an 18-second PR. UConn’s Chloe Thomas took second in 15:35.83, also a PR. NC State’s Grace Hartman won the 10,000m (32:28.89), and Notre Dame’s Andrea Markezich (32:36.16) took second. Yolanda Ngarambe of Atlanta Track Club Elite won the 800m in 2:02.54, out of what should have been the second-fastest heat of the day. Bradley’s Julia Nielsen won the “fast” heat in 2:02.65, a PR, but finished second overall. (Raleigh Relays results)
One of the appeals of racing at Stanford in the spring is the generally nice weather, but at this year’s Stanford Invitational, the distance races took place in conditions that ranged from wet to driving rain. With her 15:15.79 win in the 5,000m, Oregon’s Maddy Elmore took over the NCAA lead. She initially didn’t go with the leaders, but she was feeling good, so she worked her way up to the front pack. Elmore took the lead with only 600m to go, but she covered her last 400m in 65.34 seconds and won by more than six seconds. She hasn’t run the event much, so her time was a personal best by more than 55 seconds. Japan’s Rino Goshima was second (15:22.33), Canada’s Briana Scott was third (15:24.74), and Anna Camp Bennett took fourth in 15:24.95. World Athletics lists her previous 5,000m PR as 17:51.15, though she had run 16:25 on the roads. Either way, it’s a massive PR. Her former BYU teammate, Lexy Halladay-Lowry, running unattached, was fifth in 15:26.60. Courtney Wayment rabbited the race through 4K. (Stanford 5,000m results)
Also at Stanford, BYU’s Riley Chamberlain kicked to a 1500m win in driving rain, running 4:11.52. Raevyn Rogers rabbited the race through 1K. Washington’s Chloe Foerster took second (4:12.66) and pro runner Molly Sughroue, who hadn’t raced in more than a year due to injury, finished third in 4:14.04. In the 10,000m, Dani Polerecky opened up a seven-second lead midway through the race, but Alabama’s Hilda Olemomoi eventually broke away from the pack, reeled Polerecky in, and won, 32:22.20 to 32:28.31. In her season opener, Iowa State’s Janette Schraft ran an NCAA-leading 9:48.20 to win the steeplechase. She shaved nine seconds off her personal best and should be one to watch this season. The day after her rabbiting job, in better conditions, Rogers won the 800m in 2:02.57. (All Stanford results)
Harvard’s Victoria Bossong won the Florida Relays 800m in an NCAA-leading 2:00.92. At the start of the outdoor season, she was a 2:04 800m runner, but in her season opener, she ran 2:02.40, followed by another big PR on Saturday. Penn State’s Hayley Kitching took second in 2:01.17. (Results)
Shafiqua Maloney of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines won the 800m at Texas Relays in 2:00.25. Houston’s Kelly-Ann Beckford was the top collegian, taking second in 2:02.88. (Results)
Running on their home track, LSU’s Lorena Rangel Batres and Michaela Rose went 1–2 in the 1500m at the Battle on the Bayou, running 4:12.00 and 4:12.88. Both just missed the PRs they set in a more competitive race last year. (Results)
Lauren Ryan, who won the Australian 10,000m title in December, added the mile title last week, winning in a personal best of 4:32.19. (Edit: Yikes, I really got this item wrong. I read Ryan’s post incorrectly. In reality, Abbey Caldwell won in 4:30.50 and Ryan took second. The results are here.)
Missing the world 60–64 age-group mile record by less than a second at USATF Masters Indoor Nationals didn’t sit right with Sue McDonald, so she flew to New York and ran 5:30.73, breaking Clare Elms’ record by just 0.16 seconds. I want to see a showdown between these two.
Podcast Highlights
It’s hard to get any new book-related content from Kara Goucher, because she has done so many interviews at this point, but I was impressed by how deep her conversation with Ten Junk Miles host Scotty Kummer went.
It was good to finally hear from Emily Mackay following her bronze medal in the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships; she was on Citius Mag last week.
The always-entertaining Keira D’Amato was on a very long episode of the Hub Life - Triathlon and Endurance Lifestyle podcast. She comes on around the 13:40 mark and while I can’t guarantee it, you’ll probably learn at least one new thing about her if you listen.
Speaking of always entertaining, Allie Ostrander was on C Tolle Run in advance of her run at the World Cross Country Championships.
If you’re a Further enthusiast and are looking for more details about the Lululemon project, you might enjoy Devon Yanko on The Freetrail Podcast, Leah Yingling on the recently-launched Trail Network Podcast, and Stefanie Flippin on Relay.
It was good to hear from Gabi Rooker post-Trials on The Drop, and I was interested to hear her take on her experience with Nike’s Dreamweaver project.
In March of 1965, roughly 2,000 people walked 50+ miles, from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, sleeping in fields along the way, to ensure that Black people could exercise their right to vote. Thousands of people joined in as they approached their end point at the state capitol, where Martin Luther King, Jr. and others addressed the crowd. The Selma to Montgomery Relay now honors that historic march. And while most people do it as a relay, Sika Henry decided to do it solo, and she ran the fastest known time for the route. Henry discussed her run and its significance on the FKT Podcast last week.
The USATF 10 Mile Championships, hosted by the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile, will take place this weekend. Last month, Rachel Smith and Keira D’Amato had a good battle at the 15K Championships, and both are entered in Sunday’s race. The women start first, at 7:18 a.m. ET, and the race will stream live ($) on USATF.tv. The Carlsbad 5000 is also on Sunday, with the elite women’s race starting at 3:35 p.m. ET. Last year the elite races were streamed on YouTube.
Thanks again to Bombas for their support this month. And I am indebted to everyone who supports Fast Women via Patreon or Venmo. I hope you all have a great week. And while everything in this newsletter is true, as far as I know, remember to take everything you see today with a grain of salt.
Alison
Yikes to the police apology thing. I was hoping things were going to be better at mile 21 after last year's incident, but this is making me think there will be even more policing there.