12003: USATF Outdoor Championships
Media Platforms Design TeamWhile a student at UNC, Flanagan placed second in the 5000-meter race at the 2003 USATF outdoor championships. (Yes, that's former Runner's World columnist Lauren Fleshman in front of her.)
22003: NCAA Cross Country Championships
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan won the 2002 and 2003 NCAA cross country championship while at the University of North Carolina. In 2003, she battled KIm Smith, then a student at Providence College, now the New Zealand record holder in the marathon.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
32004: U.S. Olympic Trials
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan made the first of her three Olympic teams in 2004. She placed third in the 5000-meter final after leading early.
42007: Boston Indoor Games
Media Platforms Design Team After injury problems early in her professional career, Flanagan reemerged supremely fit during the 2007 indoor track season. At the Boston Indoor Games that year, she destroyed the American indoor 3000-meter record by running 8:33.25.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
52008: Beijing Olympic Games
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan ran her first track 10,000-meter race in 2008 and broke the American record in her debut. She then won the race at the Olympic Trials. Two months after that, Flanagan surprised even herself by winning the bronze medal at the Olympics in another American record, 30:22.22. Flanagan was so focused on competing that she crossed the line not knowing she had medaled, and sought confirmation of her place from people in the stands. Her medal was later upgraded to silver after the original second finisher got a doping ban.
62009: Boston Indoor Games
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan set another American indoor record at the 2009 Boston Indoor Games. This one was at 5000 meters, which she covered in 14:47.62.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
72010: New York City Marathon
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan made her marathon debut at New York City. She placed second to future world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat in 2:28:40.
82011: World Cross Country Championships
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan placed third at the 2011 world cross country championships and led the American women to the team bronze medal.
92012: U.S. Olympic Trials
Media Platforms Design Team In her second marathon, Flanagan won the 2012 Olympic Trials in an event record of 2:25:38. After the race Flanagan posed with her mother, Cheryl Treworgy, who set the then-world record in the marathon of 2:49:40 in 1971.
102012: London Olympic Games
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan placed 10th at the 2012 Olympic Marathon, one spot ahead of her training partner at the time, Kara Goucher.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
112013: Boston Marathon
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan, who grew up in nearby Marblehead, Massachusetts, finished fourth in her first Boston Marathon. She ran 2:27:08, 43 seconds behind winner Rita Jeptoo.
122014: Boston Marathon
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan returned to Boston in 2014. She led the first two-thirds of the race before finishing seventh in 2:22:02, the fastest time in race history by an American woman.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
132014: Berlin Marathon
Media Platforms Design Team Flanagan went to the Berlin Marathon in September 2014 with the sole goal of breaking Deena Kastor's U.S. record of 2:19:36. Although she slowed in the final miles and placed third, Flanagan improved her personal best to 2:21:14 and became the third fastest American woman marathoner in history.
142016: Rio Olympics
Media Platforms Design Team In her fourth Olympic appearance, Flanagan led the U.S. marathon squad with a sixth-place finish in 2:25:26. The strong performance was a return to form after suffering in the heat at the Olympic Marathon Trials earlier that year and barely making the team. It’s likely that her place will be upgraded to fifth because of a failed drug test by the first finisher, Jemima Sumgong.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
152017: New York City Marathon
Media Platforms Design Team Fun Half Marathons to Run in 2025 A Part of Hearst Digital Media, and one of the greatest in U.S. history, to win in 2:26:53. At age 36, Flanagan became the first U.S. woman to win in 40 years to win the world’s largest marathon. Flanagan said before the race that a win at New York will lead to her retirement. “I’ve dreamed of a moment like this since I was a little girl,” she said afterward.
Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Half Marathon Training, Advanced Marathoning, and Other Hearst Subscriptions. Running Is My Therapy Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
Pro Tips for Nailing Your First Boston Marathon
