Fiona O'Keefe broke the US Olympic Marathon Trials record in Orlando in her debut

CNN
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Fiona O'Keeffe gave a stunning performance in US Olympic Marathon Trials In Orlando on Saturday, breaking the previous record by more than three minutes.

In her first ever race over the 26.2-mile distance, O'Keefe booked her place in this year's race. Paris Olympics She crossed the line in 2:22:10, bettering Shallan Flanagan's record of 2:25:38 set in 2012.

Emily Sisson, the U.S. women's marathon record holder, and Dakota Lindorum finished second and third, respectively, to round out the U.S. women's team in Paris.

In the men's race, Conner Mantz was first to finish with a time of 2:09:05, a second ahead of his friend and training partner Clayton Young.

Third-place Leonard Currier will have to wait to see if he can qualify alongside Mantz and Young, as his time of 2:09:57 was outside the time needed to open up another spot on the US team.

The new qualifying system means Courier will need an American man — other than Mantz or Young — to run under the Olympic qualifying time of 2:08:10 in a qualifying race by the end of May to unlock his third-place finish. the team.

O'Keeffe was undoubtedly the star of the show on a warm day in Orlando. The 25-year-old became the youngest ever winner of the women's trials and the first woman to win the event on her marathon debut.

She pulled away from the high-quality field after the 18-mile mark to finish 32 seconds behind Sison, who will be going to her second Olympics after running the 10,000 meters in Tokyo three years ago.

“There's a lot of excitement, and definitely some nerves,” O'Keeffe told reporters about her feelings on the final lap.

“I started hearing people say, ‘You're going to Paris, you're going to Paris.’ But I knew there were a lot of strong women behind me and I was running a little scared.

The highly competitive women's field meant that strong contenders to make the team would always lose out. Sarah Hall, who was hoping to compete in the Olympics for the first time at the age of 40, finished fifth, while former American record holder Kira D'Amato withdrew after 20 miles.

Lindorum, who finished 36th^y In recent time trials, she finished strongly in the closing stages of Saturday's race with a time of 2:25:31, 15 seconds behind Jessica McLean in fourth place.

Mantz and Young had two fastest finishes in qualifying coming into the men's event and booked their places in Paris by pulling away from Zach Banning in the final three miles, crossing the line almost side by side.

Korir also passed Panning with about a mile to go, then held off Elkanah Kibet with a late lead to take third place.