US Woman Wins Boston | God's World News

US Woman Wins Boston

04/16/2018
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    (AP Photo: Desiree Linden celebrates after winning the women’s division of the 122nd Boston Marathon.)

American Desiree Linden splashed her way through icy rain and a near-gale headwind to a Boston Marathon victory Monday. Linden is the first American woman to win the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon since 1985.

The two-time Olympian and 2011 Boston runner-up pulled away around mile 20 and finished in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 54 seconds—more than four minutes better than second-place finisher Sarah Sellers, also an American.

Early in the marathon, Linden showed remarkable sportsmanship. She hung back to make sure race favorite American Shalane Flanagan could recover from an unexpected potty stop. Crowds greeted Linden's run to the finish with chants of “U-S-A!”

“It’s supposed to be hard,” said Linden, who had to wipe rain from her eyes much of the way. “It’s good to get it done.”

Yuki Kawauchi passed defending champion Geoffrey Kirui in the last couple of miles. He won the men’s race in an unofficial 2:15:58. The win is Japan’s first Boston Marathon title since 1987. Linden and Kawauchi led a field of 30,000 runners through a drenching rain, temperatures in the mid-30s, and gusts of up to 32 mph on the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton into Boston.

During the wheelchair race, racers pushed though puddles that sent spray from their wheels into their eyes. Marcel Hug of Switzerland earned his fifth victory, and American Tatyana McFadden won the women’s race for the fifth time.

On a somber note, Sunday, April 15, marked the fifth anniversary of the finish-line explosions that killed three and wounded hundreds more during the Boston Marathon. The bells of Old South Church rang at 2:49 p.m. to commemorate a citywide moment of silence to honor survivors and victims.

(AP Photo: Desiree Linden celebrates after winning the women’s division of the 122nd Boston Marathon.)