Huddle among American women’s surge at NYC Marathon

Shalane Flanagan set the bar high for her U.S. compatriots last year, becoming the first American woman in 40 years to win the New York City Marathon.

Desiree Linden followed with a victory in April at the windy and rainy Boston Marathon, the first American woman to accomplish that feat in 33 years.

Those achievements motivate Molly Huddle, who finished third at the 2016 NYC Marathon in her debut at 26.2 miles after a successful middle-distance career.

“We have a very talented group of women knocking on the door,” Huddle said.

The 34-year-old from upstate New York is among that group. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Huddle broke Flanagan’s 10,000-meter American record from the 2008 Beijing Games.

In January, Huddle broke Deena Kastor’s 2006 American record at the Houston Half Marathon. Kastor, who won bronze in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics, watched Huddle surpass her record in Texas.

“Some of the other American women already have the accolades under their belt,” Kastor said. “Molly is coming in a little more hungry. So I think we’ll see something special out of her on Sunday.”

Huddle recently trained for two months in Arizona in the high altitude of Flagstaff and Scottsdale. She earned state championship titles in cross country at Notre Dame High School in Elmira, New York, (which didn’t have a girls’ track team) and set a school record in the 5,000 at the University of Notre Dame.