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Last November, Molly Seidel became the fastest American woman to ever run the TCS New York City Marathon, finishing 2:24:42 – a new personal best – in her debut at the event despite a few broken ribs.

In her third marathon ever, Seidel won a surprise bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, hanging with the lead pack for the entire race to finish in 2:27:46 and become only the third American woman in history (Joan Benoit, 1984; Deena Kastor, 2004) to medal in the Olympic marathon. Seidel, who said she ripped a page from Kastor’s Olympic training log by running in heavy cotton T-shirts or sweatshirts to prepare for the heat in Japan, was awarded her bronze medal at the Olympics Closing Ceremony.

In her first career marathon – the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials – Seidel finished as the runner-up in 2:27:31, becoming the youngest American woman to make an Olympic marathon team since 1992. Later in 2020, she went on to finish sixth in her second career marathon in London in 2:25:13.

To train for the Olympics, Seidel relocated from Boston to Flagstaff and logged 125 miles per week on the roads. The last race of her training block was the Mastercard New York Mini 10K in June, at which she was fifth in 32:13.

Seidel grew up in Hartland, Wisc., and was the Gatorade National Female Cross Country Runner of the Year in high school. She went on to become one of Notre Dame University’s all-time greats, winning four NCAA titles over seven months in 2015 and 2016.

Since her teenage years, Seidel has dealt with OCD and has had a long history of eating disorders, and she relapsed into both of those conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. She met with her therapist on Zoom and leaned on her family for support. Running, she says, helped her brain and body sync up. Since going public about her story, she has been asked to speak on mental health frequently and she has used her story to help others going through similar struggles.