Women's Race at CIM: Molly Born Breaks Through in 2:24:09

• Born wins in 2:24:09 — 19 seconds clear of Sara Hall (2:24:35), with the race's fastest women's split from 5K to 10K helping power her charge from 6th to the lead in the back half.
• Hall, age 42, finishes 2nd — the 2017 CIM champion returns to the podium eight years later, running 5:31/mi and posting the 2nd-fastest women's split from 20K to the half.
• Maya Weigel's closing surge — moving from 20th at 5K all the way to 5th at the finish, Weigel ran the fastest women's split from 40K to the line to crack the top five in 2:28:44.
• A fierce 4th-through-6th battle: Lindsey Bradley (2:28:40), Weigel (2:28:44), and Rebecca Schmitt (2:28:46) finished within six seconds across three places.

The women's race at the 2025 California International Marathon opened with Megan Sailor setting the early pace — she held the lead or co-lead through the first 15K and posted the fastest women's split on that 10K-to-15K stretch — while Sara Hall ran at the front through the first checkpoint before settling into a rhythm that would keep her in contention all day. Born, meanwhile, was biding her time: she sat 7th at the opening 5K mark, working her way forward with the fastest women's split from 5K to 10K already in her legs.

The race reshuffled dramatically past halfway. Born moved from 6th to 3rd by 30K, then seized the lead before 40K and never surrendered it, crossing in 2:24:09 at 5:30/mi — just 19 seconds off Calli Hauger-Thackery's 2024 course record. Hall, who won this race back in 2017, made her own push to reclaim the lead in the middle miles — briefly holding 2nd and then 3rd before finishing a strong 2nd in 2:24:35. Sailor, who led through much of the first half, held on for 3rd in 2:25:15.

Behind the podium, the race delivered one of its most dramatic sub-plots: Weigel ran from 20th at the opening 5K all the way to 5th, and her fastest-in-the-field split from 40K to the finish made her the day's most explosive closer. She crossed in 2:28:44, sandwiched between Bradley (2:28:40, 4th) and Schmitt (2:28:46, 6th) in a six-second cluster that also included Madey Dickson (2:28:54, 7th). Annie Heffernan, who had finished 5th here in 2024 with a 2:30:26, came back to finish 12th in 2:30:50 — still a strong showing in a field where this race sent 54 women under the Olympic Trials Qualifying standard.