Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel pulls out of U.S. Marathon Trials
A knee injury will pull the 29-year-old out of the running for a spot on the 2024 Olympic team after becoming the third American woman to take an Olympic medal in the marathon
Athletics
About 48 hours ahead of the U.S. Olympic marathon trials kick off, reigning Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel announced via Instagram that she is pulling herself out of the race.
“I’ve been just really dreading making this video,” she said, starting off the announcement.
“I decided yesterday, along with my coach, that I will not be lining up for the Olympic trials marathon this coming Saturday.”
A broken patella and partially torn patellar tendon are the results that came back when she had an MRI “about a month ago” when her knee “took a turn for the worse” and she was unable to run.
“I’ve dreamed about making this team and defending my bronze medal since the last Olympics,” she said, obviously heartbroken.
Having done everything she could to get her knee healthy for trials, it just didn’t come together in time. There are no alternate ways for Seidel to qualify for the Paris Games.
“I knew that I could not race a marathon hard on it in its current state without really really injuring myself.”
At the last round of trials four years ago, the then 25-year-old placed second to make her first Olympic team and went on to become the third American woman to ever take an Olympic marathon medal.
In 2023, Seidel came back after time off after Tokyo to crush the Chicago marathon with a personal best of 2:23:07 and finish as the second American woman, eighth overall.
Chicago had been her first marathon in over 18 months as Seidel dealt with both physical and mental health struggles after Tokyo.
She was going into trials with the fifth-fastest time behind Emily Sisson, Keira D’Amato, Betsy Saina and Sara Hall.
“I’m really f-ing bummed,” she said on Instagram.
“I’m so sorry Molly. Thinking of you & wishing a very speedy recovery,” Sisson commented under the video, among words of encouragement from other runners, athletes, supporters and fans.
“I know that the team that we will be sending is going to be the most incredible, most competitive team we can be,” Seidel said about the U.S. team going to Paris.
“I’m going to be watching and cheering for all of the men and women racing this weekend.”