Fast Women
Women's competitive distance running news. Newsletter every Monday at https://fastwomen.substack.com.
- The person who posted this is probably not American, but oof, what a poor choice of words.
- In today's Fast Women newsletter: • Nikki Hiltz wins the Wanamaker Mile • A Breakthrough for Issy Boffey and an American record for Roisin Willis • How runners are making a difference in Minnesota and beyond • Meet the youngest Olympic Trials qualifier so far fastwomen.substack.com/p/fast-women...
- Race of the day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWKT...
- Two champs from last week—Dorcus Ewoi and Elle St. Pierre—are out of today’s Millrose Games.
- Someone needs to tell DT the name is already taken. (And yes, I remember the book and the movie, too.)
- Loved watching Minnesota Distance Elite's Elena Hayday win the 5,000m at the Terrier Classic in a 10-second PR of 15:30.94. As a Twin Cities resident, her life looks a lot different than most of the rest of ours these days.
- Cailee Peterson won heat two of the mile at the Terrier Classic in a big PR of 4:30.55. Cheering extra hard for all the Minnesotans right now. All mile results: lancer.trackscoreboard.com/meets/437/ev...
- Incredible race between Issy Boffey and Roisin Willis at the Terrier Classic at BU. Like last week, Boffey has a great close, but this time she wins in 1:57.43, which puts her eighth on the world all-time list. (The British record is 1:57.18). Roisin Willis is 2nd in an American record of 1:57.97.
- Boffey's previous indoor PR was 2:00.14, set last weekend. And her outdoor PR is 1:59.30. Willis surpassed both her indoor (1:59.59) and outdoor (1:58.13) PRs as well. Ajee' Wilson previously held the American record of 1:58.29.
- I appreciate Fiona O'Keeffe speaking up on her Substack. fionaokeeffe.substack.com/p/immigratio...
- This is the worst newsletter I've written in quite some time. I almost never have trouble coming up with plenty of words to write, but I spent 4-5 hours yesterday getting nowhere on this. Hoping to rebound and have something more productive to say by next week. fastwomen.substack.com/p/fast-women...
- A quick run for Katie Snowden at BU's Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational. More results: lancer.trackscoreboard.com/meets/435/ev...
- I've been veering away from running more recently on Instagram for what are hopefully obvious reasons. Most people just unfollow me if they don't like that. I've surprisingly only gotten two angry messages about it in recent weeks. In both cases, they were from relatives of professional runners.
- After six years with Nike, Sinclaire Johnson announced this morning that she has signed with HOKA. More here: fastwomen.substack.com/p/fast-women...
- Many are reporting that former marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei will represent Türkiye going forward.
- Lots of notable things here but notice Sara Hall is running both Tokyo and Boston, after running Houston earlier this month and CIM in December. japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2026/01/toky...
- Instead of racing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday, Linden Hall is instead scheduled to race the 3,000m at a much lower key meet (less than 3K away), at Boston University. Some speedy entries in the mile, too.
- Tried to screenshot the fields to post here, but the list is way too long. Here's who is planning to run the 2026 Boston Marathon. www.baa.org/news/world-c...
- Today's newsletter. Just me ruffling some feathers. (Illustration by my daughter) Also, keep scrolling to read Sara Lopez's story. It's pretty incredible that when she qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, she PRed by 55 minutes and 18 seconds. fastwomen.substack.com/p/fast-women...
- This will put most people to sleep, I imagine, but it seems important to know that the world rankings criteria have been updated. www.usatf.org/campus/artic...
- "For decades, the World Cross Country Championships were shaped by a near-unchallengeable duopoly. Kenya and Ethiopia didn’t simply dominate; they defined what success looked like... The turning point came in 2017, when Uganda hosted the championships in Kampala." worldathletics.org/competitions...
- This confirms that St. Louis has bid to host the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. www.stlpr.org/economy-busi... We also know that Phoenix was planning to bid. www.yourvalley.net/stories/phoe... Those were the two I already knew about, so any others will be a surprise to me. (1 of 2)
- 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers in Houston: 2. Sara Halll 2:26:26 (second Q in just over a month) 3. Biruktayit Degefa 2:28:07 (ditto, but she improved her time) 6. Mimi Smith 2:30:14 (PR by 3:50) 7. Lexie Thompson 2:32:17 9. Elle Orie 2:35:06 (debut, I think & 5th med student so far)
- Results from the USATF Club XC Championships. More here: my.raceresult.com/378584/
- We'll see if she stays in, but it certainly doesn't seem like Sara Hall is a pacer at the Houston Marathon. She's on 2:24:18 pace at 25K, and there are no women near her.
- Lots of fast times in Houston this morning, saving all commentary for the newsletter due to time constraints. Additional results: track.rtrt.me/e/HOU-2026#/...
- I'm not going to be providing many updates today. Too busy writing about all of it. Houston Marathon and Half are happening now, and USATF Club XC will be on USATF TV starting pretty soon.
- Ednah Kurgat runs the race of her life to finish 10th at the World Cross Country Championships. That's the highest finish by a U.S. woman since Shalane Flanagan won bronze in 2011. Weini Kelati was with her through 7K, but she struggled over the final 3K and faded to 40th in the hot conditions.
- Pre-race favorite Agnes Ngetich dominates the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, winning by 42 seconds over Uganda's Joy Cheptoyek. Ethiopia's Senayet Getachew earns bronze and leads Ethiopia to a dominant team win over Kenya and Uganda.
- Umm, bonus obstacle on the course at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships.
- The U.S. U20 squad had a solid showing to finish fourth at the World Cross Country Championships behind Uganda, Kenya, and Japan. (And Ethiopia, in spirit.) The decision to take the top U.S. finisher from NXN paid off as 16-year-old Blair Bartlett led the way for the U.S. team in 16th.
- Ethiopia's Marta Alemayo dominates the U20 race at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, winning by 26 seconds and repeating as champion. Wosane Asefa, also of Ethiopia, takes second and Uganda's Charity Cherop is third.
- Why does everyone have armbands on at World Cross? Surely that's not what they're using to track the athletes...
- Australia's Olli Hoare, Linden Hall, Jack Anstey, and Jessica Hall combine to win gold in the mixed relay at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships. Hall, a Florida State alum, was racing at her alma mater. France wins silver, Ethiopia takes bronze. Kenya is 4th, and the U.S. team is 5th.
- If anyone can handle carrying an entire broadcast on her own, it's Hannah England. But having her be the sole commentator for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships doesn't really feel like a fair ask. (The event is on Peacock now and CNBC starting at 10:00, first race in a few minutes.)
