Olympic Marathon Medals, Manchester Road Race Have Close Ties

MANCHESTER, CT — Molly Seidel's bronze medal in the Olympic marathon in Tokyo further added to the connection between the event and the Manchester Road Race.

Seidel finished third in the 2019 race in Downtown Manchester while covering the 4.748-mile course in 24:43. Her Olympic marathon time over 20-plus more miles was 2:27.46.

Manchester Road Race Archivist Road Rick Dyer said that just three women from the United States have ever medaled in the Olympic Marathon since women were first allowed to compete at that distance in 1984 — Seidel, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Deena Kastor. All have run in the Manchester Road Race.

Jim Harvey, the MRR's elite runner coordinator, said in addition to Seidel's bronze medal performance, two other MRR alums had strong showings in the Olympic marathon. Natasha Wodak, the runner-up at the 2015 Manchester race, placed 13th in the Olympic marathon. Karolina Jarzynska-Nadolska (who was sixth in Manchester in 2015 and 10th in Manchester in 2018, placed 14th in Tokyo.

"This is just additional evidence that the MRR is a world-class event and we are very proud of the great showings," Dyer said.