Emily Sisson Becomes Third-Fastest American Woman to Run 10,000 Meters – Runner’s World

• Emily Sisson became the third-fastest American woman in history in the 10K at the Stanford Invitational on Friday night.
• Sisson is preparing for her 26.2 debut at the London Marathon in less than a month.

Marathon training is already showing a lot of promise for 26.2 newcomer Emily Sisson. With just under a month remaining until her debut at the London Marathon, Sisson let loose at the Stanford Invitational with the 10,000-meter victory on Friday night.

Her winning time of 30:49 was a personal best by 36 seconds and catapulted her as the third-fastest American woman in history.

Only American record-holder Molly Huddle and Olympic silver medalist Shalane Flanagan have run faster 10K times than Sisson.

The race was executed with teamwork from Sisson, 27, and her training partner Huddle, 34, who are both coached by Ray Treacy. The runners switched off leading every few laps for the majority of the race in Stanford, California, which set the tone for a pace aimed to break the 2020 Olympic qualifying standard.

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Both runners competed at the 2017 IAAF World Track and Field Championships together and are currently in the middle of training to compete at the London Marathon in April, which made the return to the track all the more exciting.

“Molly [Huddle] and I were saying it was a bit like rolling the dice two months into our marathon build-up, so we weren’t exactly sure how we were going to feel,” Sisson told FloTrack after her race. “I was hoping I’d just feel strong from all the mileage we’ve been doing, but we also might feel tired because we’d been running a lot of miles…I was pretty pleased with how I felt.”

Huddle finished runner-up to Sisson in 30:58, and collegian Allie Ostrander crossed the line in third place with a time of 32:06, the 10th fastest outdoor time in NCAA history.

Sisson secured the victory for herself with a thrilling final 1200-meter stretch, where she quickened her pace from 71 seconds to 69 seconds, and finished with a blazing 67-second final 400 meters. That closing speed was accomplished with mileage that Sisson said has ranged from 110 to 115-mile weeks. “Ray [Treacy] tells me not to count, but I still count,” Sisson said.

While Sisson admitted that she wasn’t sure what her 10K performance means as far as projecting a marathon debut, she did walk away from the track with confidence.

“It’s not a bad place to be,” she said.

Sisson’s 10K builds on an earlier season race, which was a stronger indicator of marathon fitness. At the Houston Half Marathon in January, she ran another breakthrough on the all-time list when she became the second-fastest American woman in history to run the 13.1-mile distance. She finished fifth overall in a time of 1:07:30, which was just five seconds shy of the American record, a mark also held by Huddle.

Both of Huddle’s American records (10K and half marathon) were achieved in the past three years while she has transitioned into the marathon distance under the guidance of Treacy. At the 2016 Olympic Games, Huddle finished sixth in the 10,000-meter final in an American record time of 30:13. Almost three months later, Huddle made her debut in the marathon with a third-place finish in New York City. In 2018, Huddle broke the half marathon American record when she finished in 1:07:25 in Houston. Later that year, she ran a marathon personal best of 2:26:44 in New York City.

While the true test for Sisson won’t come until London on April 28, it’s clear that she is in great company when it comes to excelling at the marathon distance, and it will certainly be a highly anticipated debut.

Taylor Dutch is a freelance writer living in Chicago.