Molly Friel, a 50-year-old American legal secretary, recently became the second-oldest woman ever to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials, according to Runner’s World.
Friel finished the California International Marathon in December with a time of two hours, 43 minutes and 57 seconds, which was well under the two-hour-45-minute qualifying standard for the Tokyo 2020 trials set by the United States of America’s Track and Field association.
The oldest woman to qualify for the trials was Marion Irvine, who earned a spot for the 1984 Olympic trials when she was 54. However, the qualifying standard at the time was six minutes slower than the current one, the report said.
According to Runner’s World, Friel had an average pace of six minutes and 15 seconds per mile during the 26.2-mile (42.195 km) marathon. Her first-half split time, at 13.1 miles (21 km), was one hour, 21 minutes and 54 seconds.
This isn’t the first time that Friel has made it to the Olympic trials. She had done it earlier for the 2016 and 2004 Olympics, according to her Twitter bio.
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