FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women's Marathon
Ends in Historic Fashion
One-hour highlight show to air on Sunday, April 27 on MSNBC
Boston, Mass. -- On a spectacular Sunday morning in Boston, the top female
marathoners in the United States put forth an historic performance. Deena
Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, and Blake Russell headlined the April 20
show as they captured the three spots on the U.S. Olympic Team for the
women's marathon. As a result, their next marathon will be run through the
streets of Beijing on August 17 as they compete in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Behind the three Olympians, 143 other women thrilled the tens of thousands
of spectators and viewers on NBCSports.com with one of the greatest women's
marathons ever held.
A one-hour highlight show of the event will air on Sunday, April 27 on
MSNBC from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET. Commentary will be provided by commentator
Al Trautwig and 10-time NCAA All-American Ed Eyestone. The show will be the
premier episode in a series highlighting a number of Olympic Trials events
leading up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August. The Olympic Trials
online and over the air broadcast is a joint production of the USOC, Boston
Athletic Association, NBC Sports and USA Track & Field.
Among the many notable accomplishments from the event on Sunday:
Athletes
181 qualifiers (171 via a marathon performance, 10 via a 10,000m
performance)
146 starters
124 finishers
Sub-2:50's
98 women ran under 2:50. This is the second largest total in the
history of women's marathon running, trailing only the 1984 U.S. Olympic
Trials when 109 women broke that mark.
By comparison, 61 women broke 2:50 at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team
Trials-Women's Marathon. 44 did so in 2000; 71 in 1996; 46 in 1992; and 81
in 1988.
All-Time Rankings
Deena Kastor and Magdalena Lewy Boulet ran the 2nd and 11th fastest
Olympic Trials performances in U.S. history.
Kastor's winning time of 2:29:35 is the 41st fastest marathon ever run
by an American woman. She also owns the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 10th, 12th, 14th,
and 43rd-fastest times.
Lewy Boulet's second-place time of 2:30:19 is the 53rd fastest marathon
ever run by an American woman.
Age Group Records
Linda Somers Smith (2:38:49) sets U.S. 45+ record. (Previous best was
Joan Samuelson, 2:42:28.)
Joan Samuelson (2:49:08) sets U.S. 50+ record. (Previous best was
Shirley Matson, 2:50:26.)
Personal Bests & Qualifying Performances
135 women qualified for the Olympic Trials by running a new personal
best in the marathon (out of 171 women who qualified with a marathon
time).
41 women ran new personal bests on Sunday, including 13 of the top 15
and 20 of the top 26.
47 women improved upon their qualifying performance for the event
(including Blake Russell who qualified via a 10,000m time because she did
not have a qualifying marathon performance).
U.S. Championships
Deena Kastor won her third U.S. Marathon Championship (2001 and 2007),
and become the first woman since Linda Somers (in 1993-1994) to win
back-to-back titles.
Kastor becomes the first woman to win three U.S. championships in the
marathon. Julie Brown, Janis Klecker, and Linda Somers each won two.
Olympic Teams
Kastor joins Cathy O'Brien as the only women to make two U.S. Olympic
Teams in the Women's Marathon.
This represents the first time that the first alternate from an Olympic
Team (Blake Russell in 2004) has made the Olympic Team four years
later.
The 4th and 5th-place finishers from 2004 (Russell and Lewy Boulet, who
finished just 35 and 53 seconds out of third place, respectively, in 2004)
both made the Olympic Team this year.
Website Usage
48,583 visitors to www.bostontrials2008.com on race day.
360,968 race day page views.
Visitors to the website were from all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and more than 90 countries.
###
|
