Injury forces Fiona O'Keeffe out of race early in Olympic marathon
A heartbreaking ending in Paris for Davis' emerging marathon superstar
HEARTBREAK FOR DAVIS' SUPERSTAR ... An apparent hip injury forced former Davis High School and Stanford superstar Fiona O'Keeffe to drop out of the women's marathon early in the race Sunday morning at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The race began at 8 a.m. Sunday in Paris, 11 p.m. Saturday night in Davis, with at least 90 percent of the town tuning in.
O'Keeffe, 26, was behind the leaders early in the race, according to NBC, and dropped off the course near the three-mile mark of the 26.2-mile run.
A multiple state champion at Davis High and a six-time All-American at Stanford, O'Keeffe stunned the international running world by winning the U.S. Olympic Trials last February in Orlando in a Trials record of 2:22:10 in her first attempt at a marathon. The top three U.S. finishers in that race qualified for Paris.
According to a report by Theo Kahler in Runner's World, O'Keeffe's coach, Alistar Cragg, said that she was injured and had reportedly been dealing for the last week or so with "hip flexor tightness."
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:22:55.
While O'Keeffe was not the favorite in Paris, her record Trials time was an eye-opener in the worldwide marathon community. Her teammates Dakotah Lindwurm and Emily Sisson finished 12th and 23rd, respectively, on Sunday.
Lindwurm, who was third in the Trials, ran 2:26:44 in Paris and actually took the lead for several minutes at Mile 15.
Sisson, second in the Trials, clocked 2:29:53 in Paris.
SPEAKING OF SIFAN HASSAN ... Although I planned to stay up past my bedtime to watch our hometown hero, Fiona O'Keeffe, in the women's marathon, I stayed with the race until its finish around 1:30 a.m. even after Fiona was forced to drop out.
I'm glad I did.
For those who weren't paying attention, Hassan had already won bronze medals in both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters, the latter on Friday night.