Fiona O’Keeffe claimed a memorable victory at the US Olympic Trials in Orlando on Saturday, breaking the event record on her debut at the distance, clocking 2:22:10.

As reported by Letsrun.com:

“Some people are made to run the marathon. Fiona O’Keeffe appears to be one of them. The Puma Elite runner, making her marathon debut, ran away from the field over the final eight miles to win the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials in a Trials-record 2:22:10.

“On a warmish day (low 60s start, low to mid 70s at finish, bright sun with 62% humidity and a 46-degree dew point), the women kept the pace honest the first half. After a 5:32 opening mile, only one more of the first eight miles was over 5:30. The women would hit halfway in 71:43 as there was still a pack of 12. However, the pace had started to lag slightly as miles 9 through 14 were all over 5:30. Fiona O’Keeffe would soon change that. She ran mile 15 in 5:29 and 16 in 5:25. Mile 17 was even faster — 5:16.

“On the one small hill on the course during mile 19, O’Keeffe broke free of her challengers in the midst of a 5:22 mile and her lead would continue to grow all the way to the finish. All of O’Keeffe’s closing miles were under 5:30 including a wonderful 5:09 25th mile as she put up a big negative split performance in her masterful debut, going 71:43-70:27 even though the temperature was rising.”