Fast Women: The Olympic drama begins
Today's 5,000m and 800m finals will be fantastic.
Issue 306, sponsored by SOAR Running
During the Olympic Games, I’ll be sending out newsletters more frequently, so I can cover all the action in a timely manner. Fast Women will return to its regular once-a-week schedule next Monday.
Keely Hodgkinson, Faith Kipyegon lead the way into today’s finals
The biggest track & field headlines of the Olympic Games so far haven’t been about the women’s distance events, but the first finals take place today with the 5,000m final at 3:10 p.m. ET and the 800m final at 3:45 p.m. In qualifying, pre-race favorites Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain (1:56. 800m) and Faith Kipyegon of Kenya (14:57.56, 5,000m) had the fastest times.
The 800m not surprisingly had the most drama, with Great Britain’s Jemma Reekie, Nia Akins, and Natoya Goule-Toppin among those who did not advance to the final. Reekie was fresh off of a 1:55.61 at the London Diamond League meet, the second-fastest time in the world this year. At the Olympic Trials, Akins looked like she had an outside shot at an Olympic medal, and Goule-Toppin had just run 1:56.83.
The two athletes who had to make the biggest leaps to earn spots in the final were Arkansas graduate Shafiqua Maloney, of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Juliette Whittaker, 20, who just finished her sophomore year at Stanford. Maloney has PRed in both rounds of the 800m so far, and she lowered her national record to 1:57.59 in the semis.
Whittaker, on the other hand, barely avoided the repechage round, sneaking into the semis by 0.003 seconds. (She looked comfortable, she just cut it closer than she probably would have liked at the end.) And in the semis, she ran the race of her life, taking third in 1:57.76. The thing I love about Whittaker is that she is a competitor. Whether it’s the NCAA Championships or the Olympic semifinals, she can routinely mix it up with athletes who come in with faster times.
“That last 100 I feel like I really leaned into all the support and love that I’ve been feeling,” Whittaker told reporters after the race. “I have a lot of family members and friends that were able to make it here to Paris, so I have a lot of people in the stands, [and far more] people at home cheering for me. I just kind of tried to believe in myself as much as all of them believe in me.”
Anything Whittaker does in the final will be a bonus. And after several years of being one of the favorites, it will be nice for her to be the underdog for once.
The third American in the 800m, Allie Wilson, did not make it out of the first round. When she realized she wasn’t going to finish in a qualifying spot, she let up a bit and took sixth in 1:59.69, thinking she might save a little energy for the following day’s repechage round, which was only about 15 hours later. In her second-chance race, she finished third in 1:59.73, 0.08 seconds out of second place, and that proved to be the margin by which she missed out on the semis.
“I didn’t know it was possible for my heart to feel so broken yet so full at the same time,” she wrote in an Instagram story. To hear more from Wilson, this is a good article. (Runner’s World)
Though Hodgkinson is the favorite heading into today’s final, anything’s possible. I especially would not be surprised to see Mary Moraa of Kenya or Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia challenge her. (Watch Hodgkinson’s 800m semifinal | Results)
All of the favorites and most of the Americans advance in the steeplechase and 5,000m
Watching Sunday’s steeplechase prelims required waking up at 4:00 a.m. ET, and it was totally worth it. The first two heats were very dramatic, with six runners battling for five spots right up until the line.
Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai won the first heat in 9:10.51 and though Germany’s Gesa Krause was in sixth place going over the final barrier, she flung herself into third place to guarantee a spot in the final. Courtney Wayment, who was never seriously in danger, celebrated her 26th birthday by taking fourth in 9:10.72 and earning a spot in the Olympic final. Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani was unfortunately the odd woman out and she ran 9:10.91 and missed the final by 0.18 seconds.
The second heat, won by Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi in 9:15.11, was even more dramatic. Val Constien finished third in 9:16.33 and comfortably advanced. But Great Britain’s Lizzie Bird was in sixth until the final strides, when she leaned past Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto and Germany’s Olivia Guerth. Bird (9:16.46) and Jeruto (also 9:16.46) advanced, while Guerth (9:16.47) missed out by 0.01 seconds. I was also sorry to see Ceili McCabe, of Canada and West Virginia University, finished seventh in 9:20.71 and miss out on advancing.
The third heat, won by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech in 9:13.56, was less dramatic, but Marisa Howard was unable to reproduce the type of performance that got her to Paris and she finished seventh in 9:24.78 and did not advance. Howard told reporters afterwards that she got a really bad stomach bug after the Trials, but she did some of the best workouts of her life over the last three weeks. She thought a medal wasn’t out of the question, so she was disappointed that she didn’t run a race representative of her fitness.
The 5,000m heats were also tough, but a little less dramatic. I felt for Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka. The top eight runners in each heat advanced and she finished ninth in 15:00.62 and missed out by 0.98 seconds. She ran faster than everyone in the second heat, but was out of luck. She’ll be back in the 1500m.
All three Americans advanced, with Elise Cranny (14:58.55) and Karissa Schweizer (14:59.64) in heat one and Whittni Morgan (15:02.14) in heat two. Morgan told reporters afterwards that she decided to skip the opening ceremony to stay at altitude a little longer and give herself the best shot in Paris. (She’ll stay for the closing ceremony.) “I really wanted to perform well, especially the way I was selected for the Olympics,” she said. “I wanted to prove that I belonged here, since I didn’t get the top three spot.” Hopefully making it to the final, and running just 0.07 seconds slower than her PR, erased any lingering doubt.
Schweizer was also pleased to advance. “Last year in Budapest, I was watching from the couch,” she told reporters. “So to be able to be here making the final, it’s very surreal.” (Results)
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Julien Alfred earns St. Lucia’s first Olympic medal in any sport
I think a lot of casual U.S. track & field fans expected the Olympic 100m final to be the Sha’Carri Richardson show. Or those who have been watching SPRINT expected the U.S. vs Jamaica. But those who saw St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred clean up in the NCAA over the past couple of years, while at the University of Texas, weren’t surprised by her winning run on Saturday night in Paris.
Alfred looked great in winning her semifinal in 10.84 seconds, ahead of Richardson (10.89). But she was even better in the final, 90 minutes later. The athletes lined up for the final in pouring rain, and I was worried it would affect the outcome of the race, or someone would get hurt. We’ll never know if it did, but Alfred ran as if it were a perfect summer day, earning the title of world’s fastest woman with a national record of 10.72 seconds. (There was barely any wind, with a reading of -0.1 m/s.)
Richardson had the slowest reaction time in the field and was still only in seventh place 40m into the race, but she closed well to earn silver, her first Olympic medal, in 10.87. Her training partner, Melissa Jefferson, had an excellent run to win bronze (10.92). It was the first time since 1996 that the U.S. had two women on the 100m podium.
Notably absent from the race were Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson. Jackson pulled out before the event began and was still planning to race the 200m. But she was a no-show for Sunday morning’s 200m heats as well.
Fraser-Pryce had the second-fastest time in the semis (10.92 seconds) but didn’t line up for the semis due to an undisclosed injury. She posted this statement on Instagram. (There’s been all sorts of chatter about Fraser-Pryce and Richardson being delayed in their entry to the track in advance of the semis, and how it affected them. But it doesn’t seem worth speculating about it until we know more.)
The story of the race was Alfred winning St. Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal, and what a way to make an entrance, with gold in one of the most high-profile events of the Games. (This is a great clip of a crowd cheering Alfred on in Castries, St. Lucia. I also love that Adele paused her concert in Munich to show the race.) At last year’s World Championships, Alfred finished fourth in the 200m and fifth in the 100m, but she was running on fumes after a long NCAA season.
She said afterwards that the biggest difference between this year and last year is that as a (Puma-sponsored) pro, she has been able to race far less frequently and target her season towards running well at the Games. During the indoor season, she also earned St. Lucia’s first-ever medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, winning the 60m. Alfred still trains under her college coach, Edrick Floreal (aka Coach Flo).
I’m curious to see how the film crew behind SPRINT season two will handle all of the plot twists of the last week. If they weren’t already featuring Alfred, they’d better be doing so now. On two hours of sleep, Alfred lined up for the 200m heats less than 14 hours after her 100m win. She won her heat and easily advanced to today’s semifinals. (Gabby Thomas had the fastest time of the first round, running 22.20 seconds.)
It’s unfortunate to see some news outlets framing Richardson’s silver medal as a letdown. Of course she wanted to win gold, but a silver medal at the Olympic Games, especially with all of the pressure she was facing and how competitive the event is, is still incredible. (Race replay | Detailed results | Nice article about Alfred)
Femke Bol’s heroic anchor leads to mixed 4x400m win
The U.S. and the Netherlands are developing quite the rivalry in the mixed gender 4x400m At last year’s World Championships, the Netherlands’ Femke Bol was leading the race late, when Alexis Holmes of the U.S. drew even with her and Bol fell and lost the baton just before the finish line. The U.S. won in world record time.
During Friday’s Olympic mixed 4x400m heats, the U.S. established itself at the team to beat when Vernon Norwood (44.47), Shamier Little (49.32), Bryce Deadmon (44.17), and Kaylyn Brown (49.45) combined to run a world record of 3:07.41. But in Saturday’s final, the Netherlands subbed in Femke Bol on the anchor leg, so it was clear that anyone who was going to beat the Dutch team was going to need to have a significant lead heading into the last exchange.
Because the U.S. team had run so well the day before, they didn’t substitute anyone in the final, so it was again Norwood (44.50), Little (49.40), and Deadmon (44.70) on the first three legs, and they handed off to Brown in the lead, with Belgium running nearly dead even. Great Britain ran in third, and the Netherlands was fourth, only 0.9 seconds out of the first.
Brown, a 19-year-old who just finished her first year at the University of Arkansas, ran a strong anchor leg, spitting 49.14. She was the only member of Team USA who ran faster on day two. But there was no stopping Bol, who was still in fourth with about 150m to go, but is known for her ability to close well. Bol caught Brown about seven strides before the line and the Netherlands won in a national record of 3:07.43, the second-fastest time ever run. And the U.S. finished second in 3:07.74, the third-fastest time ever.
Brown held off Amber Anning, her University of Arkansas teammate, who was anchoring for the British team that finished third in a national record of 3:08.01. During the collegiate season, Brown and Anning teamed up to set a collegiate record in the 4x400m.
There was a reason no one could stop Bol; she split a 47.93. As far as I can tell, 47.6 is the fastest relay split a woman has ever run. And now the U.S. is the response to a good trivia question: Who set a world record but didn’t win the race?
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is going to be tough to challenge during the Games, but if anyone is up for it, it’s Bol. And kudos to her for being willing to run the mixed relay, which took place only about 15 hours before the first round of the 400m hurdles, her primary event. (Mixed 4x400m video | Results)
Other Notes from Paris
Shortly after Julien Alfred earned St. Lucia’s first Olympic medal, Thea LaFond pulled off another first. With a 15.02m (49 feet, 3-¼ inches) performance, she won the triple jump and earned the first-ever Olympic medal for Dominica. (More about her from The Washington Post.) Jamaica’s Shanieka Richetts won silver and Jasmine Moore earned bronze, the first-ever Olympic triple jump medal for a U.S. woman. (Results | More about Moore)
Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, 22, who fled her country in 2022 because of the war with Russia, won high jump gold on Sunday, clearing 2.00 meters (6 feet, 6-¾ inches) with fewer misses than Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers. Ukraine’s Iryna Gerashchenko and Australia’s Eleanor Patterson shared the bronze, both clearing 1.95m. And a single miss earlier in the competition prevented Vashti Cunningham from also earning bronze. She also cleared 1.95m and finished fifth. (Video highlights | Results)
China’s Yang Jiayu won the 20K race walk, the first track & field event of the Olympic Games. Racing on a 1K loop near the Eiffel Tower, Yang broke away after 5K, and she held on to win by 25 seconds, in 1:25:54. Spain’s Maria Perez earned silver (1:26:19), and Australia’s Jemima Montag earned bronze with an Oceanian record of 1:26:25. (More)
Remember how Kendall Ellis got stuck in a porta potty not long before the 400m semifinals at the Olympic Trials? The Trials 400m champ now has a sponsorship deal with toilet paper maker Charmin.
On Thursday, discus thrower Veronica Fraley tweeted, “I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent. My school only sent about 75% of my rent while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything) enough to buy new cars and houses.” Fraley won the NCAA discus title in June, competing as a graduate student at Vanderbilt. Her tweet, which has 18 million views as I write this, caught the attention of Flavor Flav and Alexis Ohanian, both of whom helped her out. (LA Times) Fraley also set up a GoFundMe, to help fund her as she starts her professional career. Some of track & field’s top athletes are doing well financially, but many are struggling, especially those who compete in the field events. Vanderbilt issued this statement in response to Fraley’s post and Fraley finished 13th in the discus and just missed the Olympic final by one spot.
Nigeria’s Favour Ofili, formerly of LSU, thought she was running the 100m in Paris until three days before the race, when she learned that the Nigerian federation never entered her in the event, even though she had qualified. She also missed the 2021 Olympic Games despite qualifying, because she hadn’t been drug tested enough leading up, through no fault of her own. Fortunately she is entered in the 200m and she had the second-fastest time in the first round.
This is a good story about Layla Almasri, who represented Palestine in the 800m. “We’re diplomats as well as athletes,” she said. Almasri ran a national record of 2:12.21.
Sharon Firisua of the Solomon Islands, who was hoping to run the Olympic marathon using the wild card spot given to countries that don’t have other qualifiers. But she was told there was only room in the 100m, so she made her debut in the event at the Olympic Games. She was the slowest finisher, running 14.31 seconds, but it was a PR.
Much of this didn’t make it into the broadcast but, Silinia Pha Aphay of Laos finished sixth in that same preliminary heat, running 12.45 seconds. When she crossed the line, she heard screaming. Midway through the race, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucia Moris of South Sudan fall in the lane next to her. So Pha Aphay ran back up the track and signaled for medical staff to come help her. Adam Kilgore got the story for The Washington Post.
Sifan Hassan announced two days before her first Olympic race that she would run the 5,000m, 10,000m, and the marathon. “I think it’s impossible, so I want to see if it really is,” she said in an Instagram post.
While preparing to run the Olympic marathon, Great Britain’s Charlotte Purdue rolled her ankle during her final long run, and she’s too injured to start the race. Clara Evans will step in as a last-minute replacement.
I understand that because it’s a massive international event, only so many people can get media credentials for the Olympic Games. Combine that with the International Olympic Committee’s no-video-in-the-mixed-zone rule and the (non-TV) coverage of these Games feels like a step backwards compared to most big U.S. meets and the World Championships. I know all of the U.S. outlets in Paris are working around the clock to put out quality content, I just wish the rules weren’t so restrictive. One way I can tell people are starved for content? Seventeen hours after LetsRun posted a video of the men’s 10,000m press conference, which was longer than the race itself, the video already had more than 40,000 views. (Apparently press conference videos are okay to post, but mixed zone videos are not.)
Other News and Links
When Allie Wilson first moved to Indianapolis, she was unsponsored, so she picked up a nannying gig. This is such a sweet article about Wilson and the family she nannied for.
World Athletics announced the 2025 World Championships qualifying standards last week. Here’s how the times compare to this year’s Olympic standards: 800m, 1:59.30 to 1:59.00; 1500m 4:02.50 to 4:01.50; steeplechase, 9:23.00 to 9:18.00; 5,000m, 14:52.00 to 14:50.00; 10,000m 30:40.00 to 30:20.00; marathon, 2:26:50 to 2:23:30. Because the marathon standard had already been leaked, the one that surprises me most is the 10,000m. Only four American women have broken 30:20 ever. (Plus Betsy Saina, who represented Kenya at the time.) Unless lowering the time spurs many women globally to start running faster, I’m not sure it will have much of an effect on who qualifies for Worlds, because athletes can still get in based on their world rankings. But it might make Trials races less relevant going forward. The athletes it’s most likely to affect are those whose countries have tougher selection procedures and require them to hit the standards in order to go.
Aisha Praught-Leer talked to The Gleaner about retiring from professional running.
There were a lot of articles about sisters Juliette and Bella Whittaker leading up to the Olympic Games, but I really appreciated all the little details in this one, from Cindy Kuzma. (Runner’s World)
This was a nice update on 1992 Olympic marathoner Janis Klecker (aka Sage Hurta-Klecker’s mother-in-law), who says she can still run without pain, but she’s also putting a lot of her energy into strength training now.
I became aware of Maggie Giegold after listening to her on The Trail Network Podcast in April, and I was so sorry to hear that she passed away recently. Five days before she was to complete her residency, the 32-year-old suffered a stroke. This is a thoughtful news segment on Giegold, and I also appreciated some of the nice tributes I saw on Instagram.
In last week’s newsletter, I mentioned the top three runners from the San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon, because their times were impressive. (Plus the third-place finisher was three-time Olympian Shannon Rowbury.) But it turns out the course was short. The timing company has updated the results to indicate that the race was 12.6 miles. Runners are understandably frustrated.
Dorcas Ewoi’s fantastic season continues with a win at Sir Walter Miler
At Sir Walter Miler in Raleigh, North Carolina, New Balance Boston’s Heather MacLean tucked in behind Kate Mitchell, her New Balance Boston teammate and the designated pacesetter, from the gun. When Mitchell exited the race 900m in, MacLean kept the quick pace going. But with one lap to go, she still hadn’t shaken the On Athletics Club’s Sage Hurta-Klecker, Puma Elite’s Dorcas Ewoi, of Kenya, or Eleanor Fulton.
Ewoi didn’t make her big move until the homestretch, when she kicked by MacLean to win in a meet record of 4:19.71. (Her previous mile PR was a 4:49.90 from 2022, but she runs the 1500m much more often.) Ewoi has made a massive jump this year and she came in with a 4:05.53 1500m PR, but her en route split here was a 4:02.90, another PR.
Hurta-Klecker also passed MacLean on the homestretch and finished a close second in 4:19.89, a 5.56-second PR, and MacLean took third in 4:20.41, a 3.01-second PR. Up above, I told you next year’s World Championship 1500m standard is 4:01.50, but there’s also a mile standard, 4:19.90, and the qualifying window opened on Thursday, so Ewoi and Hurta-Klecker now have the world standard.
Fulton, who continues to do an admirable job of racing herself back to top fitness after a late start to her season, dropped back on the final lap but hung on to take fourth in 4:24.87. Christina Aragon (4:27.74) and Jenn Randall (4:28.18, PR) also broke 4:30, with Aragon doing so for the first time. (Race replay | Results)
Additional Results
Faith Chepkoech, 21, of Kenya won Maine’s Beach to Beacon 10K in 32:05 and Edna Kiplagat, 44, also of Kenya, finished second in 32:17. Susanna Sullivan was the top American, taking fourth in 32:22. Race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson, 67, won her age group in 45:38. (Results)
Micaela DeGenero won the Mile High Mile in 4:31.61, the fastest mile a woman has ever run in Colorado.
Tori Parkinson won Utah’s Hobble Creek Half Marathon in 1:14:45. (Results)
The same day the Olympic men’s decathlon champion was crowned, women from around the world began competition at the first-ever decathlon world championship in Geneva, Ohio, an athlete-organized event. At the Olympic level, men compete in the decathlon (10 events), while women compete in the heptathlon (seven events). Some women are pushing for the decathlon to replace the heptathlon, but the current stars prefer the event the way it is. The decathlon advocates understand that no one wants to make a mid-career change, but they say pick a date far enough in the future that the current stars can retire and the up-and-coming ones can make the switch. Armenia’s Allison Halverson won the competition with 7,236 points.
Podcast Highlights
The Olympic track & field recaps I’ve been enjoying the most so far are the ones that Kara Goucher and Des Linden are doing via Nobody Asked Us. As of Sunday, they’ve put out two episodes: one mostly about the men’s 10,000m, and one that recapped the second day of in-stadium action.
Heather MacLean was great on I’ll Have Another. She talked about handling the disappointment of missing out on the Olympic team, as well as her long road back from injury, which included finding a supportive community at a gym.
Sharon Lokedi discussed stepping in as a late addition to Kenya’s Olympic marathon squad on C Tolle Run.
In an emotional episode of What’s Inside the Box? recorded shortly after she made the Olympic team, Allie Wilson talked about having somewhat of a tough buildup leading into the Trials. Right after she opened her outdoor season, she found out she had low iron, so it was a race against time to resolve that before her biggest races. She said she hasn’t done any follow-up testing, but she is feeling much more like herself now.
It was fun to listen to Nikki Hiltz on Good Game with Sarah Spain. They come on around the 12:00 mark. And I appreciated the line, “I feel like a mediocre man couldn’t even run 3:55.”
Annie Rodenfels discussed her career thus far, including winning the recent USATF 6K Championships, on Women’s Running Stories.
The last two episodes of Rose Eveleth’s podcast, Tested, were very well done, and I’m sad the six-episode series is over. And with all of the fuss about Olympic boxing, it’s more relevant than ever.
Kate Grace said on The Running Effect that next up, she wants to run a marathon. She doesn’t expect to be running at the same world class level as she has in the middle distances. But if she takes well to the distance, she would be interested in trying to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials, especially if they’re in Los Angeles, where she grew up.
Allie Ostrander and her partner, Spencer Brown, have launched a new podcast called Every Step of the Way. It’s not available on my preferred podcast player, but it is on Spotify. And while Spotify was open, I caught up on Marielle Hall’s podcast, Unexpected Curves (which is also available on Apple Podcasts, but not all podcast players). I particularly enjoyed her episode with Kori Carter, about life after professional track & field.
Deena Kastor discussed the upcoming Olympic marathon and many other topics on Lactic Acid with Dom and Laura (minus Laura this time) and who better to talk about running well in the Olympic marathon in tough conditions?
Thanks again to SOAR Running for sponsoring Fast Women this month. And remember I’ll be sending out extra newsletters this week, to avoid having the rest of them be this long. (If you’ve made it this far, you’re a true fan. And if you found any mistakes, they’re my fault, because my editor, Sarah Lorge Butler, is tied up doing more important things.) I hope you all have a good week!
Alison
Better commentary than NBC!