Photo Credit: Kirby Lee/USA Today
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Few could have expected Dakotah Lindwurm to make the Team U.S. Olympic team in the marathon on Saturday in Orlando.
After all, she had never qualified for her state cross country meet in high school.
Moreover, she walked on to a Division II school in South Dakota.
But that is exactly what Lindwurm has now done after finishing third at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Lindwurm finished with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 21 seconds to finish only behind U.S. champion Fiona O'Keeffe, who won with a new Team Trials record, and Emily Sisson, who qualified for her second Olympics.
All three girls broke the previous trials record of 2:25:38 set by Shalane Flanagan in 2012.
2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Results
| Rank | Athlete | Time |
| 1 | Fiona O'Keeffe | 2:22:10 |
| 2 | Emily Sisson | 2:22:42 |
| 3 | Dakotah lLndwurm | 2:25:31 |
| 4 | Jessica McClain | 2:25:46 |
| 5 | Sara Hall | 2:26:06 |
Lindwurm competed in track and cross-country at St. Francis High School and was a goalie for the St. Francis/North Branch girls hockey team.
She started running on the St. Francis cross country team as a sophomore and saw modest success before college.
She then walked on at Northern State in South Dakota before ending up as a scholarship athlete.
Lindwurm was a first-team All-American in the 10,000 meters and earned second-team honors in cross country. After graduating in 2017, she joined the Minnesota Distance Elite training group in the fall of 2018.
Since joining the Minnesota Distance Elite Program, Lindwurm has won two Grandma's Marathon titles, finished in the top twenty at the Boston Marathon twice and was 12th at the 2023 Chicago Marathon before her big breakthrough at this year's marathon trials.
Now, she is bound for the Olympics and will get to compete against the best marathoners in the world.