- It was announced Tuesday morning that Desiree Linden, the 2018 Boston Marathon champion, will return to the race in 2020.
- Nutrition - Weight Loss 2020 Olympians Advice on Good Training Partners in Atlanta.
- Also running in Boston are last year’s winners: Lawrence Cherono of Kenya and Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia. Degefa is one of five women who has run faster than 2:20. On the men’s side, two-time Boston champ Lelisa Desisa returns. The complete elite field is here.
Desiree Linden, a two-time Olympian, will attempt to make a third U.S. team by running in the 2020 It was announced Tuesday morning that Desiree Linden, the 2018. Races - Places Boston Marathon on April 20, seven weeks later.
The Boston Athletic Association and John Hancock, the Boston Marathon’s principal sponsor, announced the news. Linden is one of eight past open champions who will be on the Hopkinton starting line on April 20. Also running are last year’s winners, Lawrence Cherono of Kenya and Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia.
Linden, 36, had been coy about her 2020 marathon plans, but according to a statement released by the B.A.A., she’s had the plan to double in the works for almost a year.
She’s been a fan favorite in Boston since she nearly won in 2011, finishing second by two seconds in a sprint down Boylston Street. Her ran well at the New York City Marathon, in monsoon-like rain and temperatures in the mid 30s, cemented her popularity in a city that’s crazy about its marathon.
At the same time, the Olympics have lost some of their luster for her as medalists from past marathons have been busted for doping violations. From the marathon at the Rio Games in 2016, the gold medalist, Jemima Sumgong victory in 2018, Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain, have failed drug tests and are serving suspensions. Because of the timing of their failed tests, however, they have not been stripped of their Olympic medals. Races - Places in that Rio race.
She was also disappointed by the IOC’s recent decision to move the 2020 Olympic marathon Trials 3rd Finisher Looks Set for Olympic Marathon, 500 miles to the north, where officials hope temperatures might be better suited for the distance events.
But today’s announcement shows that Linden wasn’t ready to completely abandon the Olympic pursuit. If she qualifies for Team USA bound for Japan by finishing among the top three in Atlanta, she’ll be the first American woman to make three Olympic teams in the marathon.
When asked if she thought she could make the team, Linden said: “That’s the plan. I’m not going out there to have a bunch of fun and experience the Trials. I’m going out there to make the team.”
She went to Atlanta to run on the hilly trials course in July and liked what she saw. “It was fun to be on it,” she said. “I was like, ‘This is kind of made for me. This is a grinder’s course. I think I can do really well.’ I walked away even more excited about the idea.”
After Linden It was announced Tuesday morning that Desiree Linden, the 2018 in November—she was the top American in sixth place in 2:26:46, her fastest time in two and a half years—it seemed likely she would make a run at the Trials.
In a phone interview with Runner’s World, Linden’s coach, Walt Drenth, said the Atlanta topography is similar to the hills she trains on around her house in Charlevoix, Michigan. And she bounced back well after New York.
“I think she came off of New York in a better place physically than she did last year,” he said. “I think her optimism and her excitement for the challenge that she’s charted is pretty high. She’s a really bright person, and I think working on this puzzle [the Trials followed by Boston] is probably a good thing.”
At the Trials, Linden will face stiff competition from at least 11 other hopefuls with reasonable expectations of a top finish, including veterans Amy Cragg (a college teammate of Linden’s) and Molly Huddle, A Part of Hearst Digital Media Jordan Hasay, Emily Sisson, and Emma Bates.
Whatever happens in Atlanta, it will be a tight turnaround for Linden to be ready for Boston. The seven-week gap between the two races will be the shortest time between marathons in her 19 tries at the distance.
Drenth isn’t worried. “She’s going to run Boston unless something happens that doesn’t allow her to do it physically,” he said. “She’s excited to run Boston. It’s a community that seems to have embraced her, and her them. I don’t see why she can’t go there and be relatively effective.
“If she had come out of New York and been a physical wreck, we would probably have had a discussion about if whether we can do the other ones. The one thing 36 gives you is some clarity—you start thinking about the end of your career and, ‘Whoa. I’ve got some things I want to do still.’”
To manage both marathons, Linden said she’ll have to be “incredibly professional” in her approach to training. “Which I should be anyways,” she said. “But even more diligent during this whole buildup with recovery. Scratch the vacations and celebrations after the Trials. Those are easy things; they’re not sacrifices. I’m passionate enough about Boston, I think it will be really easy to get rolling again.”
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Olympians Advice on Good Training Partners, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
