Shalane Grace Flanagan (born July 8, 1981) is an American long-distance runner, coach, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area records in both the 10k and 15k road races.[1]
Flanagan grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts. She attended Marblehead High School, where she excelled in cross country and track. She also participated in soccer and swimming, and was an artist and painter in the art major program.[4][5]
Flanagan is married to Steven Ashley Edwards,[6] a former track and field star at the University of North Carolina. Together they are foster parents to Breauna and Keauna. While training for the Rio Olympics, one of her teammates from Bowerman Track Club Team emailed asking to find a foster home during their senior year of high school. Flanagan and her husband immediately welcomed Breuna and Keauna into their home.[7]
Flanagan's parents are both accomplished runners. Her mother, Cheryl Treworgy, is a former marathon world record holder (as Cheryl Bridges – 1971) and a five-time U.S. World Cross Country Championship participant. Her father, Steve Flanagan, was also a U.S. World Cross Country Champion participant and marathon runner (PR 2:18). He raised Shalane and her sister Maggie in Marblehead with his second wife Monica.[8]
On August 6, 2016, Flanagan and longtime college friend Elyse Kopecky published their first cookbook Run Fast.Eat Slow. Flanagan and Kopecky met in 2000 as teammates of the cross country team while attending the University of North Carolina. After they graduated from college, they both moved to Portland, Oregon, where Flanagan went to run for Nike and Kopecky went to work in marketing for Nike. Kopecky left her marketing career to pursue culinary nutrition school in New York City.[11] In 2013, Flanagan and Kopecky reunited in Portland where they came up with Run Fast Eat slow to prove that food could be both nourishing and delicious.[12] Their book went on to become a New York Times Best Seller. They toured together in Oregon, San Francisco and New York City, where their events included running, inspirational talks and a chance to meet and get to know the authors better. Due to Flanagan's New York City Marathon Training and the birth of Kopecky's baby, they had to limit the number of stops on their book tour. After doing their book tour they had a better understanding of the impact their Run Fast.Eat Slow book had on the running community. The fan feedback was that they wanted Flanagan and Kopecky to write a second cookbook which would be best suited for people with busy lifestyles. Flanagan and Kopecky went on to write their second cook book Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat Slow which focused on less time-consuming recipes whilst not compromising nourishment or flavour. Flanagan [13] Their second cook book Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat slow was published August 18, 2018.
On April 29, 2020, Flanagan announced she and Edwards had adopted a baby boy, Jack Dean Edwards. On January 24, 2023 Flanagan announced on Instagram that she and her husband adopted a baby girl, Grace Morgan Edwards.[14]
Flanagan attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she won national cross country titles in 2002 and 2003—becoming the first individual champion in the sport in Tar Heel history—and numerous track accolades, with best times of 4:11.24 in 1500 m (7th in the U.S. at any level in 2003), 9:00.22 in the 3000 m and 15:20.54 in the 5000 m.[22] She won the Honda Sports Award as the best female collegiate cross country runner in the nation in both 2003 and 2004.[23][24]
Professional career
Early professional career (2004–2007)
Early in her professional career, Flanagan was very successful. Since advancing to the professional level in 2004, by 2007, Flanagan lowered her 3000 m time to 8:33.25 and her 5000 m time to 14:44.80, the latter an American record at the time; she made a slight improvement to her 1500 m time of 4:05.86. She became a two-time outdoor track national champion in the women's 5000 meters and an indoor track national champion in the 3000 m. She won the short course competition at the USA Cross Country Championships in 2004 and 2005.[25][26]
Flanagan has been a Nike-sponsored athlete since graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel hill in 2004.[13]
2008
Flanagan became the long course national cross country champion for the first time in February 2008. She ran the 10,000 for the first time at the 2008 StanfordPayton Jordan invite meeting, in a time of 30:34.49 to beat Deena Kastor's American record of 30:50.32. Flanagan credited her American record to the help of New Zealand's Kim Smith. Flanagan and Smith traded the lead position during the race, and Smith finished in 30:35.54.[27]
At the Summer Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Flanagan competed in both the 5000 and 10,000 m. She won the 10,000 m final in a time of 31:34.81. This guaranteed her a spot on Team USA for Beijing. Flanagan also finished third in the 5000 m final with a time of 15:02.81.[28] On August 16, Flanagan finished third in the Olympic 10,000 m finals in Beijing, capturing the bronze medal (later upgraded to silver). It was later upgraded to silver after Turkish runner Elvan Abeylegesse tested positive for a banned substance.[29] Flanagan also set a then American record in 30:22.22, shattering her own record set earlier in the year.[30][31] She is only the second American woman to receive an Olympic medal in the 10,000 m.[31]
Flanagan (right) competing in the 2009 Boston Games
In 2009, Flanagan split with coach John Cook and moved to Portland, Oregon, to begin working with new coach Jerry Schumacher.[32] She finished second to Amy Yoder Begley in the 10,000 m at the 2009 USA Track & Field Championships.[33] At the World Championships in Berlin, Flanagan finished in 14th place in the 10,000 m with a time of 31:32.19.
2010
Flanagan won her first half marathon in Houston at the USA Half Marathon Championships on January 17. She set the course record in a time of 1:09:45.[34][35] She added a second national championship with a victory at the USA Cross Country Championships.[36] At the World Cross Country Championships, Flanagan finished the individual race in 12th place with a time of 25:20. She was a member of the Team USA squad that earned a bronze medal.
In June 2010, it was announced that Flanagan would make her marathon debut in the New York event in November 2010.[37] Her preparations boded well for the event as her mark of 1:08:36 at the Philadelphia Half Marathon was just two seconds off Deena Kastor's American record at the event. Flanagan's time in Philadelphia brought her fourth place some 45 seconds behind winner Meseret Defar.[38] In her marathon debut, Flanagan finished in second place in a time of 2:28:40. It was the best finish for an American woman in 20 years at the New York City Marathon. Flanagan captured the U.S. Marathon championship in the race.[39] She took her fifth title at the National Cross Country Championships and asserted herself as the clear number one in the discipline, winning by a margin of 41 seconds.[40]
2011
At the World Cross Country Championships on March 20, 2011, Flanagan improved on her 12th place from the year before to place third, with a time of 25:10. She led the Team USA squad to a bronze medal. Flanagan was the first non-African born medalist in the event since 2004.[41] She competed in the June 2011 USA Championships in the 10,000 m and won with a time of 30:59.57, qualifying her for the 10,000 m at the World Championships.[42]
On August 27, 2011, Flanagan finished seventh at the World Championships 10,000 m with a time of 31:25.57 minutes (the first non-East African born athlete to finish).
Flanagan said in June 2011 that she was leaning towards running the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics.[43] With this in mind, she ran at the first Miami Half Marathon in December and won in a Florida state record time of 1:09:58 hours.[44]
On January 14, 2012, Flanagan won the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston, setting the event record at 2:25:38. She moved on to represent Team USA at the Olympic women's marathon in London, finishing 10th with a time of 2:25:51.[45][46] She defeated a high class field at the Lisbon Half Marathon in March, recording a time of 1:08:52.[47] She came in 25th at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.
Flanagan qualified for the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with the top American time of the year[50] at the 2013 Stanford University Invitational 10 km, where she ran 31:04 without competition for the 2nd half of the race.[51] In June 2013, Flanagan won the 10,000 meters to claim her fourth USA outdoor track title.[52] On August 11, 2013, Flanagan finished 8th at the IAAF world championship.[53]
On April 21, 2014, Flanagan led the 2014 Boston Marathon female competitors through 19 miles, ultimately finishing seventh (later upgraded to sixth) in a personal record of 2:22:02, making her the third fastest female American marathoner ever, after Kastor and 1984 Olympic champion Joan Benoit Samuelson.[55][56][57]
On September 28, 2014, Flanagan placed third in the Berlin Marathon, with a personal best of 2:21:14. It was the second fastest time ever by an American woman at the time, 7 seconds ahead of Joan Benoit's 1985 Chicago Marathon in 2:21:21 and 98 seconds behind Deena Kastor's 2006 London Marathon in 2:19:36. Her Berlin run now ranks third on the US all-time list after Jordan Hasay's 2:20:57 at the 2017 Chicago Marathon.[58]
2015
Shalane Flanagan finishing the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials MarathonShalane Flanagan collapses into Amy Cragg's arms while celebrating after the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon
On February 13, 2016, Flanagan placed third, behind Amy Hastings (Cragg) and Desiree Linden, at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, finishing in 2:29:19 on a warm day in Los Angeles.[68] On June 5, 2016, Flanagan placed first, setting a new PR in the half marathon, at the Suja Rock'n'Roll San Diego Marathon and half Marathon, with a time of 1:07:51.[69]Molly Huddle ran a 1:07:41 in New York City in March, while the American record is 1:07:34, set by Deena Kastor in Berlin in 2006.
In February 2017, Flanagan announced that she had suffered a fracture in her lower back and would be withdrawing from the Boston Marathon.[75]
In March 2017, her 2008 Olympic bronze medal in the 10,000 meters was upgraded to silver after runner up Elvan Abeylegesse had her silver medal stripped due to a positive result for banned substances found in a retroactive test.[2]
New York City Marathon
On November 5, 2017, Flanagan won the Women's New York City Marathon in 2:26:53. With about 3 miles to go, she pulled ahead of 3-time defending champion and women's-only marathon world record holder Mary Keitany of Kenya and finished ahead of her by 1:01. It was Flanagan's first win in a major marathon and the first win by an American woman at the NYC Marathon in 40 years since Miki Gorman won in 1977.[3] Beforehand, Flanagan hinted a possible retirement with a win in NYC.[76] In this marathon, she finished just 5 minutes 39 seconds behind her personal record.
The marathon started out slow and then proceeded with increases in intensity throughout. The first 5 km averaged 3:51/km. The pace then proceeded to steadily average about 3:33/km for the next 20 km. After the 25 km mark, the pace averaged 3:23/km for about 10 km; after the 32 km mark, competitor Daska made a move to assure the pace was at least maintained. At about the 34 km mark is where Shalane made a move, where her significant change and maintained intensity in pace left her competitors Keitany and Daska behind just after the 37 km mark.[77][78] Her average pace from the 35 km to finish (over which the course averages a slight uphill) was 3:11.4/km, which was faster than the women's-only marathon world record pace of 3:14.8/km (2:17:01).[79][80]
Coming into the marathon, Mary Keitany was the favorite having won the NYC Marathon three times in the past averaging 2:24 to 2:25, and having a personal record setting 2017 year in the 10k road, half marathon, and marathon (30:41+, 1:05:13, and 2:17:01 respectively) leading up to the NYC Marathon.[81] Although the average pace from the 2:26:53 Shalane ran was slower than NYC Marathon winners in the prior years since 2011, the overall difficulty of the course (as can be inferred by the list of winning times) along with Shalane's sustained surge in pace during the last 5-7k appeared to be one of the main reasons she won the race.
2018
Shalane Flanagan went to defend her title and finished third in the 2018 New York City Marathon, finishing in 2:26:22 behind winner Mary Keitany in 2:22:38 and close behind Vivian Cheruiyot who finished in 2:26:02 and just 22 seconds ahead of Molly Huddle in fourth.[82] Flanagan sat in fifth at the halfway point but was able to maintain her pace while those ahead of her were slowing down trying to keep up with Mary Keitany. Flanagan was able to secure herself in a podium position during the race after passing two women ahead of her.[83]
2019
Shalane Flanagan announced her retirement from professional running on October 21, 2019, via Instagram.[84][85] Flanagan, in her retirement statement, said she will be one of the head coaches for the Bowerman Track Club.[83]
2021
Because the World Marathon Majors had all been rescheduled for the Fall in 2021, Flanagan registered for all 6, attempting to run all 6 Abbot World Marathon Majors, each in under 3 hours, in 6 weeks. Because Tokyo was canceled, she substituted her own marathon run in Oregon, and still completed her goal of "6 in 6", albeit with only 5 of them being majors. On September 26, she finished the 2021 Berlin Marathon in 2:38:32 (17th in the women's division); On October 3 she finished the 2021 London Marathon in 2:35:04 (1st woman from the "mass start", 30 minutes after the elite women's start, to finish); On October 10, she completed the 2021 Chicago Marathon in 2:46:39 (25th in women's division); On October 11, she finished the 2021 Boston Marathon in 2:40:34 (33rd in women's division); On October 18, in place of the canceled Tokyo Marathon, she ran in her own marathon in Oregon in 2:35:14; On November 7 she finished the 2021 New York City Marathon in 2:33:32 (12th in women's division) [86]
2022
Flanagan was named as the University of Oregon assistant long-distance coach in 2022.[87]
