Women's 10K: Lucie James Storms the Back Half to Take San Francisco

• Lucie James wins in 36:20 (5:51/mi), posting the fastest women's split on the 5K→Finish to overtake the early leader and claim the title.
• Kshitija Deshmukh led at the 5K mark but faded to 3rd (38:33), while James and Harriet Flynn — 2nd in 37:40 — ran the two fastest closing splits in the women's field to surge past her.
• Tiffani Williams, 50, finishes 5th in 40:15, bettering her own 5th-place result here in 2025 (40:29) by 14 seconds — same position, sharper time.
• Sophia Pursley, 20, doubles up across the weekend, placing 13th here in 43:18 after finishing 2nd among women in the Sunday 5K.

The story of the women's race across 1,986 finishers was written in the back half. Kshitija Deshmukh of Milpitas held the women's lead through the 5K, but the race's decisive move came on the 5K→Finish segment. Lucie James, the 25-year-old San Franciscan running on home roads, produced the fastest closing split among all women, surging from 3rd place to break the tape in 36:20 at a 5:51/mi clip. That's a convincing margin — Harriet Flynn of Davis crossed 2nd in 37:40, herself running the second-fastest closing split in the women's field, a real catch-up effort in her own right. Deshmukh, who had done the early work up front, held on for 3rd in 38:33, though her closing split ranked 228th among the women — a stark contrast to the two who overtook her.

Greta Anderson (4th, 39:01) also ran the third-fastest closing split among women, making the back half a full-on charge from multiple directions. Just behind her, Tiffani Williams delivered one of the day's most satisfying results: the 50-year-old from Los Angeles crossed 5th in 40:15 at 6:29/mi, trimming 14 seconds off her 5th-place finish at this same race in 2025. Same result on the leaderboard, but a measurably better performance. Julie Platt (6th, 40:41) and Danika Kritter (7th, 40:57) rounded out a tight cluster just past the 40-minute mark.

Further back, Sophia Pursley made a strong case as one of the weekend's busiest competitors. The 20-year-old from Aptos finished 13th in 43:18 here — having already placed 2nd among women in the Sunday 5K. Racing hard across multiple events in the same weekend is no small feat, and Pursley handled both with composure. Melanie Cleland, 55, was another standout by any measure, crossing 16th in 44:00 at 7:05/mi in a women's field that stretched well past 1,900 finishers.