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Connor Mantz and marathon debutant Fiona O’Keefe secured a spot on the Paris team by winning the US Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando on Saturday (3rd).
The race unfolded in contrasting ways. In the women’s race, O’Keefe made an ambitious break with more than seven miles to go and then won by more than 30 minutes in a time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, 10 seconds.
Mantz, on the other hand, teamed up with Clayton Young in the closing stages to pass longtime leader Zachery Panning. The two ran the final 2.5 miles together, with Mantz ahead in the final meters, winning in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 05 seconds.
A group of 12 women ran together early on, completing the 5 mile in 27:03 and the 10 mile in 54:27. O’Keefe was part of that group, along with other leading candidates including Emily Sisson, Kyra D’Amato, Sarah Hall, Caroline Rotich, Betsy Saina, Dakota Lindwurm and Lindsay Flanagan.
D’Amato led the pack, reaching the halfway point in 1 hour 11 minutes 43 seconds, finishing on schedule and within 2 hours 26 minutes 50 seconds of the Olympic qualifying time. However, by the 16th mile, D’Amato was several seconds behind the leading group, which had dropped to 9 seconds.
O’Keefe began to grow in the lead just before mile 19. The other main opponents, most of them veteran marathon runners, chose not to go with her, which proved to be a decisive move for the marathon novice.
O’Keefe’s lead grew with each mile. At one point, he had a 40-second lead over Sisson at mile 25. Further back, Lindwurm was advancing through the field while Hall’s challenge was beginning to fade. Meanwhile, D’Amato, Saina and marathon debutant Jenny Simpson all withdrew at various points in the second half.
But O’Keefe ran the race of her life up front, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 10 seconds. Sison took second place with a time of 2:22:42 and Lindwurm took third place with a time of 2:25:31, ensuring all three women qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The men’s race started with a decent-sized lead group of about 10 riders, who covered 10 miles in 49 minutes, 07 seconds. By the halfway point, reached at 1:14:07, eight competitors were still in contention, led by Panning.
At mile 31, the lead trio of Penning, Mantz and Young managed to break away from the rest of the pack. At this point, the top runners were on track to finish in 2:07:40, well within the Olympic qualification standard of 2:08:10. Mantz and Young are the only two U.S. men to achieve this record during the qualifying period, but the event provided an opportunity for other athletes to follow suit.
Panning continued to lead until mile 23, but fatigue soon became apparent. Muntz and Young were able to shake off Panning and open up a large lead over the rest of the field, but Panning was passed by Elkana Kibet and Leonard Coryir in the closing stages.
Young and Mantz ran the final two miles together, and at one point it looked like they would cross the line all at once, but Mantz took the lead just before the line and won in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 05 seconds. Young followed a second behind, securing a spot in the Olympics with a time of 2:09:06.
Korir finished third with a time of 2:09:57, five seconds behind Kibet.
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