Americans Run Tough in Rio, All Three Place Top Nine

By Scott Bush

Sunny skies and warm temperatures kept the early pace of Sunday's Olympic women's marathon within reason early, which kept a large number of contenders among the lead pack for a number of miles. Leading the charge a trio of times in the first half of the race was American Desi Linden, who didn't necessarily surge to the lead, rather kept pace and simply used her momentum to run up front. 

A few small surges between miles 8-15 broke the race up, but Linden and fellow Americans Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg all remained in the lead back of a dozen runners. Eventually, the leading group of Rose Chelimo (BRN), Eunice Kirwa (BRN) and Tirfi Tsegaye (ETH) pushed the pace, bouncing Linden off the back, while Flanagan and Cragg held on. 

With 10km to go, Flanagan was the lone American on the back of the lead back of nine, as Cragg fell off before that point. While Linden maintained contact about 75 meters off pace, Flanagan held and seemingly wouldn't let go. However, with five miles to go, the leaders made a move Flanagan couldn't react to and she was spit out the back of the lead pack. 

While Kenya's Jemima Sumgong, Kirwa and Ethiopia's Mare Dibaba fought up front for the win, Flanagan held pace as best she could in sixth, while Linden passed Cragg and started to pick off other runners falling out of the lead pack. 

Sumgong and Kirwa eventually pulled away from Dibaba and rushed to the finish line, with Sumgong outkicking Kirwa in the final mile to win in 2:24:04, less than a minute behind the Olympic record set by Ethiopia's Tiki Gelana in 2012 when she won in 2:23:07. Kirwa finished second in 2:24:13, while Dibaba held on for bronze in 2:24:30.

While the Americans all dreamt of winning medals, they still finished incredibly well. Flanagan ran to a sixth place finish in 2:25:26, Linden placed seventh in 2:26:08, while Cragg ran tough to finish ninth overall in 2:28:25.

All three women represented the U.S. extremely well, showed grit and determination throughout and never gave up. They inspired fans across the country, put up their best efforts and for that Americans should be proud of these three women.

Top Ten Results - Women's Marathon

2:24:04 - Jemima Sumgong (KEN)
2:24:13 - Eunice Kirwa (BRN)
2:24:30 - Mare Dibaba (ETH)
2:24:47 - Tirfi Tsegaye (ETH)
2:24:48 - Volha Mazuronak (BLR)
2:25:26 - Shalane Flanagan (USA)
2:26:08 - Desiree Linden (USA)
2:27:36 - Rose Chelimo (BRN)
2:28:25 - Amy Cragg (USA)
2:28:36 - Hye-Song Kim (PRK)

All-Time Great Team Performance

They don't hand out a team title at the Olympics (maybe they should), but the success of Flanagan, Linden and Cragg ranks as one of the all-time great team performances in the Olympics. As pointed out by Nick Zaccardi, Team USA becomes only the second trio to have all three runners place in the top nine. 

Team USA Celebrates Marathon Success