Elite Women at CIM 2025: Born Takes Control in the Final Miles

• Molly Born won the Elite Women's race in 2:24:09 (5:30/mi), erasing a five-place deficit in the women's field to claim the title with a decisive late surge.
• Sara Hall, 42, ran a remarkably consistent race to finish 2nd in 2:24:36 — just 27 seconds back — posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 20K-to-half stretch.
• Megan Sailor led the women's field for much of the middle of the race before fading to 3rd in 2:25:16, still separated from 2nd by only 40 seconds.
• Places 4–6 finished within 5 seconds of each other — Bradley (2:28:41), Weigel (2:28:44), and Schmitt (2:28:46) — with Weigel's closing kick (fastest women's split from 40K to the finish) nearly stealing an extra spot.

Cool and calm at 46°F with barely a breath of wind, Sacramento served up near-ideal conditions for fast marathon racing — and the Elite Women delivered. Molly Born didn't look like a winner through the early miles, sitting 7th among women at the 5K mark, but she was already moving. She posted the fastest women's split from 5K to 10K, and by the time the race hit its decisive stretch, Born had climbed methodically through the field. She hit the front before 40K and never looked back, crossing in 2:24:09 at 5:30/mi.

The middle act belonged to Megan Sailor, who ran to the front of the women's field and held 1st through 15K, logging the fastest women's split from 10K to 15K along the way. But Sailor couldn't hold the pace in the closing miles, slipping to 3rd by the finish. Sara Hall, meanwhile, was the race's model of consistency — never lower than 3rd, never higher than 1st, and ultimately 2nd at 2:24:36. At 42, Hall ran the entire race at 5:31/mi and was the last athlete standing between Born and the win.

Behind the podium, the battle for 4th through 6th was something else entirely. Lindsey Bradley, Maya Weigel, and Rebecca Schmitt finished in 2:28:41, 2:28:44, and 2:28:46 — three athletes separated by five seconds after 26.2 miles. Weigel was the most dramatic of the three: she was 20th among women at the 5K mark and ran the fastest women's closing split from 40K to the finish, storming through the field to land just two seconds shy of 4th. Jenny Grimshaw, Erin McDonald, and Breanna Sieracki added another three-way photo finish at 2:32:52 to close out an elite women's race full of racing all the way to the line.