Sixty-one seconds was the difference that made history earlier this month. At the 47th running of the NYC Marathon, an American woman had won the women’s division. This had not been done since 1977.
Shalane Flanagan, a Massachusetts native and Oregon resident, ran an unofficial time of two hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds to beat three-time consecutive winner Mary Keitany of Kenya.
This was the first time any American has won the NYC Marathon since Meb Keflezighi won the men’s competition in 2009.
Two other American women, Allie Kieffer and Kellyn Taylor, were just minutes behind. The race was the first in history in which three American women broke a time of two hours and 30 minutes.
Thirty-six-year-old Flanagan has had a successful running career. She received two individual cross-country titles during her time at the University of North Carolina, holds records in the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter indoor races for America and after the disqualification of a competitor that beat her, was awarded second place in the 2008 Olympics for the 10,000-meter race. Flanagan has said that she will be retiring after this race.
The winner of the men’s competition was Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor. Kamworor ran a time of two hours, 10 minutes and 53 seconds to beat the second-place contester, Wilson Kipsang of Kenya, by merely three seconds. This was Kamworor’s first win in his seven NYC Marathons. He has received a total of nine silver and gold medals from various world championship races since 2014.