NEW YORK — Olympic triathlon champion Gwen Jorgensen had no expectations for her first marathon, but this much she knew about her race Sunday:
“I don’t know what I would have been happy with, but I’m not happy with that race,” she said.
Jorgensen crossed the New York City Marathon finish line in Central Park in 2 hours, 41 minutes, 1 second. She was 14th in the women’s field. Race results are here.
The former University of Wisconsin cross-country runner stayed with the lead pack for the first five miles before dropping back. Jorgensen really slowed in Central Park, failing to break seven minutes each of her last two miles.
That’s not shocking, given Jorgensen primarily stuck to her triathlon training going into this race. Last weekend, she competed in a three-day triathlon stage race in the Bahamas (and won).
“I didn’t prepare as well as I should have,” she said. “I just didn’t have enough time. It was difficult. My muscles definitely got sore during the race. They’re going to be pretty tired and sore for several days. That’s different than a triathlon. Normally, I go into a triathlon, and I’m fully prepared and ready to go. For this race, I wasn’t prepared, and it definitely hurts.”
Jorgensen beat elite runners, including recent track Olympians Kim Conley and Janet Bawcom.
Don’t expect to see Jorgensen run another marathon any time soon. In addition to eyeing defending her Olympic triathlon title in Tokyo, she wants to start a family, which would entail taking a year off from competition.
“We’ll see what happens,” she said. “We failed on month one, and now we’re on month two. I’m running this marathon probably isn’t going to help a baby stick. So we’ll see.”
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