Linden first U.S. woman since ’85 to win Boston Marathon
Sharapova returning to Bay Area this summer to play in inaugural Silicon Valley Classic
Desiree Linden splashed her way through icy rain and a near-gale headwind to a Boston Marathon victory on Monday, the first American woman to win the race since 1985.
The two-time Olympian and 2011 Boston runnerup pulled away at the end of Heartbreak Hill to finish in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 54 seconds. That was more than four minutes better than second-place finisher Sarah Sellers, one of seven Americans in the top 10, but the slowest time for a women’s winner since 1978.
“It’s supposed to be hard,” said Linden, who wiped the spray of rain from her eyes as she made her way down Boylston Street alone. “It’s good to get it done.”
Yuki Kawauchi passed defending champion Geoffrey Kirui in Kenmore Square to win the men’s race in an unofficial 2:15:58 and earn Japan’s first Boston Marathon title since 1987. Kirui slowed and stumbled across the Copley Square finish line 2:25 later, followed by Shadrack Biwott and three other U.S. men.
On the fifth anniversary of the finish line explosions that killed three and wounded hundreds more, Linden and Kawauchi led a field of 30,000 runners through a drenching rain, temperatures in the mid30s and gusts of up to 32 mph on the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton.
“For me, it’s the best conditions possible,” Kawauchi said through an interpreter and with a wide smile.
In Copley Square, crowds thinned and muffled by the weather greeted Linden, the California native who lives in Michigan, with chants of “U-S-A!”
Lisa Larsen Weidenbach’s 1985 victory was the last for an American woman before the race began offering prize money that lured the top international competitors to the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon. Linden nearly ended the drought in 2011 when she was outkicked down Boylston Street and finished second by 2 seconds.
Tennis
SHARAPOVA RETURNING TO BAY AREA >> Former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova will play in the WTA Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, July 30-Aug. 5 at San Jose State. The tournament had been known as the Bank of the West Classic and played at Stanford for 21 years. It will be held at SJSU for the first time this summer.
“I am excited to return to the Bay Area for the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic,” Sharapova said in a news release. “I always enjoy playing in California. The region has tremendous tennis fans, and I can’t wait to see the tournament’s new venue in San Jose.”
Sharapova, winner of five Grand Slam titles and one of six women to complete a career Grand Slam, will be visiting the Bay Area for the fifth time. She was a finalist at Stanford in 2010.
The 28-player singles draw also features defending champion Madison Keys and 2017 finalist CoCo Vandeweghe.
The tournament is the opening event of the US Open Series, which kicks off the hardcourt season leading up to the US Open in New York, which begins Aug. 27.
Motorsports
BUSCH MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW >> Kyle Busch stood on the hood of his No. 18 Toyota shaking his fists as the snow began falling around him. It was that kind of a long weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Busch won the rain-delayed race at the half-mile track on a cold, dark Monday for his second straight Cup Series victory. He also won last weekend at Texas.
Busch passed Kyle Larson with five laps remaining following a restart with 22 laps left.
It was Busch’s 45th career Cup win and marks the fifth time that he has won back-to-back races. It also was Busch’s seventh win at Bristol.
Soccer
FIFA INSPECTING MOROCCO’S 2026 BID >> A FIFA task force arrived in Morocco on Monday to inspect a World Cup bid that obscures one potential impediment to hosting the 2026 soccer showpiece: Homosexuality is a criminal offense in the north African country.
An Associated Press review of 483 pages of documents submitted to FIFA found Morocco failed to declare its anti-LGBT law as a risk factor and provide a remedy, appearing to flout stringent new bidding requirements.
“Morocco’s human rights report presented to the FIFA is an intentional silence on an issue that Morocco knows too well is a crime on its soil,” Ahmed El Haij, president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, told the AP.
“It is evident that if Morocco was to host the World Cup, LGBT people coming to watch the games will face a lot of discrimination. The state will not be able to protect them nor will it be able to commit in preventing measures that could be taken against them by both the state and society.”
Under Article 489 of the Moroccan penal code, sexual acts between people of the same sex are punishable by six months to three years in prison.
While World Cup hosts could previously largely shake off concerns from activists, FIFA has demonstrated a growing awareness in recent years of how rights abuses can impact its events.
World Cups must be in environments free of “discrimination based on sexual orientation,” FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura wrote to activists last year discussing the upcoming tournament in Russia. Samoura’s letter reflected a policy incorporated into the world soccer statutes in 2013 as scrutiny of human rights mounted in Russia and 2022 World Cup host Qatar.
Women’s basketball
HOF MEMBER CHARLES-FURLOW HAS DIED >> Daedra Charles-Furlow, a Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer who played on Tennessee’s 1989 and 1991 national championship teams, has died. She was 49.
Lisa Croff, spokesperson for the Wayne County (Michigan) morgue, confirmed Monday that Charles-Furlow died Saturday in Wayne County.
Charles-Furlow was known as Daedra Charles when she played for Tennessee from 1988-91. She won the 1991 Wade Trophy, given annually to the top women’s college basketball player in the nation.
Charles played on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team that earned the bronze medal.
Tennessee retired Charles’ No. 32 jersey. She entered the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
THOMPSON TO COACH VIRGINIA >> Virginia has hired former WNBA star Tina Thompson to coach its women’s basketball team.