Fiona O’Keeffe Reigns Supreme at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Historic Debut

Published February 3, 2024 03:04PM

It’s no secret that Saturday’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials had one of its most stacked fields in history. In a field full of American legends, past Olympians and emerging stars, there were about a dozen women that made their way into fan and media predictions, with top athletes such as Emily Sisson, Keira D’Amato and Betsy Saina being popular picks as the race got closer.

It’s safe to say not many people had 25-year-old Puma-sponsored athlete Fiona O’Keeffe on their list, mostly because she had never run a marathon before. But it was O’Keeffe, running boldly amid the more experienced runners around her, who took the win in 2:22:10, setting a new U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon record. It’s the first time in history that a woman has won the event in her debut.

New Balance athlete Sisson, 32, the American record-holder in the marathon, took second in 2:22:42 to make her second Olympic team (she placed 10th in the 10,000 meters in Tokyo in 2021), and Dakotah Lindwurm, 28, also a Puma athlete, was third in 2:25:21 after quite the battle for that third Olympic spot. All three will run the marathon in the Paris Olympics on August 11.

A Big Risk with a Big Reward

O’Keeffe, 25, who trains with Puma Elite, a Cary, North Carolina-based team led by former professional athletes Alistair and Amy Cragg, noted that it wasn’t necessarily the plan to have her run her first marathon in such a high-stakes event, but rather just how her training worked out after she debuted in the half marathon only two years ago (which was notable in that her 1:07:32 clocking at the 2022 Houston Half Marathon, was the fastest debut by an American woman at the time.)

O’Keeffe went on to place sixth in the 5,000 meters at the 2022 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. She missed time in 2023 after ankle surgery to recover from a staph infection, and finally earned her ticket to the U.S. Olympic Trials last December at the Raleigh Half Marathon (1:09:34) just a day before the qualifying deadline.

“[Debuting at the Trials] just naturally made sense in the progression of my training,” O’Keeffe said in the post-race press conference.

As the front pack that started with about 14 women got smaller as the miles ticked off, Lindwurm was one of the first athletes to take the lead. O’Keeffe, meanwhile, didn’t make a significant move until mile 18, which was also still rather early considering how much distance the women still had left to cover. She eventually put in a 30- to 40-second gap on Sisson after mile 20, never looking back as she grinded to the finish.

“I just really didn’t want to have any regrets today, and I wasn’t sure at that point if it would be a mistake or if it would pay off,” O’Keeffe said. “I just wanted to go for it, see what happens, and trust the training and preparation.”

“Fiona was great, and I just tried to keep my eyes on her, thinking as long as I kept running my pace I could reel her back in and maybe pick it up in the last two miles, but I also just kept telling myself ‘Top three, top three, just make this team,’” Sisson added.

A New Era of American Distance Running

Several athletes had expressed concern about the late-morning start time, which was pushed up to 10 A.M. from an originally planned noon start. While starting line temperatures were mild in the high 50s, it warmed up quickly and clearly took its toll as several top athletes eventually dropped out, including D’Amato, Saina, and 2020 Olympic Trials champion Aliphine Tuliamuk, who had been recovering from a torn hamstring.

Hall, 40, dealt with the simultaneous heartbreak of missing another Olympic team in her eighth overall Trials, but expressed pride in achieving her highest placement with her fifth-place finish (2:26:06) in Orlando. Des Linden, 40, a two-time Olympian running in her fifth U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, finished 11th in 2:28:04; Stephanie Bruce, 40, competing less than five months after giving birth to a baby girl, finished 101st in 2:47:42. Jenny Simpson, 37, a former world champion in the 1,500 meters, who was competing in her first marathon, was among the top 20 women early but but eventually succumbed to the heat and the pace and stepped off the course after Mile 18.

O’Keeffe noted that although she’s been told as early as when she was in high school that the marathon might be her event, she didn’t really start to believe it until about two years ago, when she began training with her current team. She highlighted her coaches’ experience as being pivotal in her preparation, particularly Amy’s, as she won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles on an equally hot and humid February day.

“It’s been super valuable to have Amy with her personal experience on everything from the little details like decorating bottles to the bigger stuff like race strategy and making a commitment at the point in the race where it does start to hurt,” O’Keeffe said.

Lindwurm’s third-place finish was also a significant breakthrough after running a personal best of 2:24:40 at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, which was preceded by a few difficult performances in Boston over the last few years, as well as dropping out at the 2022 New York City Marathon. After initially taking the lead, Lindwurm at one point fell back to seventh place before moving back up to battle for third with Caroline Rotich, the 2015 Boston Marathon champion, in the final miles.

“When it opened up and felt like the team was running away from me, I just reminded myself it wasn’t over, there was a lot of race left,” Lindwurm said. “I’ve done so many marathons that I know not everyone is going to close really hard, so I just held on tight and when I passed those women like Betsy [Saina] and Sara Hall, I reminded myself it wasn’t over.”

2024 Women’s U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon Results

1. Fiona O’Keeffe, Cary, North Carolina, 2:22:10, $80,000*
2. Emily Sisson, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:22:42, $65,000*
3. Dakotah Lindwurm, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2:25:31, $55,000*
4. Jessica McClain, Phoenix, Arizona, 2:25:46, $9,000
5. Sara Hall, Crested Butte, Colorado, 2:26:06, $9,000
6. Caroline Rotich, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:26:10, $9,000
7. Makenna Myler, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:26:14, $9,000
8. Lindsay Flanagan, Boulder, Colorado, 2:26:25, $9,000
9. Emily Durgin, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:27:56, $9,000
10. Annie Frisbie, Edina, Minnesota, 2:27:56, $7,000
* = Secured 2024 U.S. Olympic Team berth for the marathon in the Paris Olympics