GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY!

Wisconsin runner earns just third U.S. medal in marathon

Molly Seidel has been a household name in Wisconsin distance running for years. Now, the rest of the world knows it, too.

Seidel, in just her third marathon of any kind, ran with the pack for most of the Olympic marathon Saturday in hot and humid Sapporo, Japan, and finished with a bronze medal, crossing the finish line in 2:27.46.

She became the third U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal in the marathon, joining gold medalist Joan Benoit in 1984 and bronze medalist Deena Kastor in 2004.

Peres Jepchirchir won the race in 2:27.20. Her fellow Kenyan, Brigid Kosgei, took second in 2:27.36. Seidel’s placement in the top three marks a rapid ascent and considerable upset.

The 27-year-old Nashotah native and former standout at University Lake School in Hartland became an amazing story back in February 2020 when she ran her first marathon ever at the U.S. Trials and took second place to qualify for the Games. That was pre-pandemic; 17 months later, she was running on the streets of Sapporo, having competed in

her second marathon in the interim in London, where she took sixth in October.

The broadcast routinely flashed shots of Seidel’s friends and family gathered in Nashotah as they watched the race unfold, as well as to letters Seidel wrote in 2004 when she professed her future goal of becoming an Olympian.

“First time she ever qualified for nationals in high school she went and won it,’ her sister Izzy said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. “Same with college, first time she qualified for nationals she won it. First time she qualified for the Olympic trials she went qualified for the Olympic team. And now first time she went to the Olympics she gets a medal”

Seidel was the most decorated high school distance runner in Wisconsin history. She won all four 1,600 and 3,200 runs in track and field in Division 3, setting state records in both.

Seidel also ran the fastest time of any runner in state history in cross country when she won the last of her four titles, becoming the second runner in state history, boy or girl, to win four titles (along with Suzy Favor).

At Notre Dame, her NCAA titles included wins in the outdoor 10,000 meters and indoor 3,000 and 5,000, as well as cross country.

She’s been open about her struggles with mental health and an eating disorder, issues that kept her from perhaps making her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

She joins Waterford’s Madelynn Bernau (bronze in trap shooting) and Kenny Bedarnek of Rice Lake (silver in 200 meters) as Wisconsinites to bring home Olympic medals in the Tokyo games. University of Wisconsin product Mo Ahmed took second for Canada in the men’s 5,000 meters, and UW alumna Rose Lavelle took bronze with the USA women’s soccer team.

Gwen Jorgensen of Waukesha became the first American woman to win gold in the triathlon at the 2016 Games.

GETTY IMAGES American Molly Seidel runs in the Tokyo Olympics women’s marathon alongside Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir, Bahrain’s Eunice Chebichii Chumba, Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei and Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter.