Shalane Flanagan Earns USATF Athlete of the Week Award for TCS New York City Marathon Win

By Adam Kopet

USATF announced Thursday that Shalane Flanagan has earned USATF Athlete of the Week for her historic win at the TCS New York City Marathon.

Flanagan used a big surge in the closing miles of the race to pull away from three-time winner Mary Keitany to cross the finish line first by more than a minute in 2:26:53.

This was the first American win in the race since 1977, when Miki Gorman won.

The New York City Marathon was Flanagan's first marathon since she was sixth in the Rio Olympic marathon. She missed the 2017 Boston Marathon, because of an injury sustained while training through bad winter weather in Portland, Ore.

According to John Connolly of the Boston Herald, Flanagan has not yet decided if she will compete in the 2018 Boston Marathon. She wants the decision to come naturally and it may be several weeks before she reaches a decision.