Is it time to be nervous if you are an American Olympic marathon hopeful not named Betsy Saina? This weekend at the USATF 25K Road Championships – the one you have all been waiting for! – the former three-time NCAA champion at Iowa State reintroduced herself to an American audience. This was the first race that Saina has run on US soil since switching allegiance from her native Kenya, and let’s just say she is undefeated.

Grand Rapids lived up to its name (the weather? Grand. The paces? Rapid.) and spectators were treated to a battle between Saina, who ran 1:24:32, and Keira D’Amato, who finished a few seconds back in 1:24:39. Do with that information what you will. Nothing forces fans to stop worrying about times and start focusing on competition like odd distances. D’Amato has never been shy about lining up often and the strategy of racing herself back into shape this spring is seemingly working.

There was no question that Betsy was back in business following the birth of her son in 2021 when she finished 5th at the Tokyo Marathon in 2:21:40 — the fastest time by an American in 2023. And while none of the ladies who are actually vying to make the team underestimated the threat that a race-sharp Betsy presents, chances are that YOU have.

On the men’s side, stop me if you have heard this one before… Leonard Korir wins the USATF title! Running it back after last year’s victory, Lenny confidently waited until the final moments of the race to make his move, which he deployed expertly to win in 1:14:45, four seconds ahead of Jacob Thomson.

Korir has cemented himself as one of America’s top road dogs for over a decade now. His trajectory from the perspective of the Columbia cross country team 13 years ago has been quite amazing. We kept close tabs on Iona since they were quite clearly way better than us coming off two recent runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championships, and their campus is about 12 miles from ours, as the crow flies. Even though the Lions had never made a national meet and the Gaels were almost winning them, every year we thought that David could take down Goliath.

They had these dope shirts that read, “Assembled in the USA” on the back and it basically meant that no matter how many seniors they’d graduate that they’d reload with some incredible international talent from far away places like Ireland, England, Australia, Sweden, Morocco, and Upstate New York. When Lenny showed up from Kenya there was understandably a lot of hype and fear, but when he ran 4:32 for the mile at the Metropolitan Championships our anxiety disappeared.

One year later Korir won the NCAA Indoor Championship 5000m. And he is still winning.