Marielle Hall is a fierce athlete among fierce athletes. She is one of the stars of the stacked Bowerman Track Club. Heading into the Olympic year of 2020, everything was coming together for her. She finished the 2019 outdoor track season as the highest finishing American in the 10K at Worlds (Doha) ahead of Molly Huddle and Emily Sisson. Running 31:05.71 to place herself 8th at the meet, the time also moved her up to 6th fastest American of all time over the 10,000m distance. She got to Worlds with something to prove. She placed 5th at USA Champs but the 3rd and 4th place finishers in that race did not have world championship qualifying times. (In order to qualify for the World Championships from the USA, an athlete must be top 3 at the USA Championships AND have the World Championship meet qualifying standard; if a top 3 athlete doesn't have a world standard it goes to the next athlete who does.) When the season ended though, it was Marielle who was queen of the 10K.
Marielle raised her voice in the fight for racial justice in June with a powerful & personal piece in Runner's World:
"...The ripple effects of racism that lead to the violence we are witnessing are likely to be appearing in our schools, workplaces, and communities. Who is in our running groups? Who do we follow on Instagram? What books are we reading, shows are we watching, or podcasts are we listening to? Do they feature stories with people of color? I believe challenging ourselves to have relationships and interactions that are diverse, transparent, and open to authentic dialogue can effect meaningful change.
Fighting racial injustice in America is an endurance sport. It is going to take time, and sustained focus, to galvanize our communities. Being tired is not enough. The race can be won, but it requires dutiful action from all of us."
Marielle is a fighter, a fierce competitor, and an Olympian with much more to prove. She'll sit down with Dan Fitzgerald for a live interview at @heartbreakrunco this Wednesday at 8:30PM ET. Don't miss it!