FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Benoit Samuelson Named Athlete of the Week
INDIANAPOLIS – Joan Benoit Samuelson has been named USA Track & Field's
Athlete of the Week after setting a pending U.S. Masters record Sunday at
the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and following that up by running in
the Tuft's Health Plan 10K for Women on Monday in Boston.
The 1984 Olympic gold medalist, Benoit Samuelson ran an American 50-54
year-old age-group record of 2:47:50 in Chicago on Sunday before hopping a
flight to Boston where she ran the Tuft's Health Plan 10K for Women on
Monday. In Boston, she cruised to a comfortable 40:29 performance in the
USA Women's 10 km Championship, good enough for 10th in the Masters (40 &
over) Division and 60th overall among the 6,699 women in the race.
Now in its ninth year, USATF's Athlete of the Week program is designed to
recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a
new honoree each week and features the athlete on the USATF website.
Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous
week.
Winners: January 13, Jen Clayton; January 20, Shalane Flanagan; January 27,
Nolan Shaheed; February 3, Bernard Lagat; February 10, Bernard Lagat;
February 17, Shalane Flanagan; February 24, Amber Campbell; March 3, Amber
Campbell; March 10, Phil Raschker; March 17, Ashton Eaton; March 31, Lisa
Koll; April 7, Queen Harrison; April 14, Magdalena Lewy Boulet; April 21,
Bershawn Jackson; April 28, Phoebe Wright; May 5, Chris Solinsky; May 12,
Walter Dix; May 26, Cory Martin; June 2, Chaunte Lowe; June 9, Bernard
Lagat; June 16, Queen Harrison; June 30, Kara Patterson; July 7, David
Oliver; July 22, David Oliver; July 28, Conor McCullough; August 4, Kennedy
Blahnik; August 11, Tyson Gay; August 18, Allyson Felix; August 26, Robin
Reynolds; September 1, Molly Huddle; September 8, Bernard Lagat; Kibwe
Johnson; September 22, Robert Cheseret; September 29, Joe Detmer; October
6, Linda Somers Smith; October 13, Joan Benoit Samuelson.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field,
long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF
encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track &
Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and
junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult
runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.
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