Des Linden sets sub-3-hour 50K world best in Oregon

With race opportunities limited by the pandemic, 2018 Boston Marathon winner Des Linden has embraced some new and different challenges in recent months, including tackling the 50k. In her first ultra, on a closed course in rural Oregon, Linden not only smashed the previous record of 3:07:20 set by the U.K.’s Aly Dixon in 2019, but she became the first woman to break the three-hour barrier (which, she revealed later, was always her goal). This equates to a 3:36-perkilometre pace, for 7.8 km beyond the marathon distance. (It’s not an official world record, since the 50k distance is not recognized by World Athletics for that purpose.)

Linden finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Championships in early 2020 and is the first alternate leading up to the Tokyo Games. She has announced that she will race the Boston Marathon, currently scheduled for Oct.11.