Keira D’Amato And 2:09-Man Elkanah Kibet Lead US Marathon Squads For 2023 Budapest World Championships
USATF Press Release
June 16, 2023
Indianapolis, Indiana – USATF has announced full fields to the men’s and women’s marathon rosters and a full field to the women’s 35km race walk roster for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023. Led by World Athletics Championships veterans Keira D’Amato, Elkanah Kibet in the marathons, and Miranda Melville in the 35km RW, nine athletes have been named to represent Team USATF.
Former American record holder in the marathon, Keira D’Amato, is set to lead the women’s marathon team in Budapest. The 38-year-old road star made her first World Athletics Championships appearance in 2022, finishing eighth in Eugene as part of the trio that won the team title. She’ll make her Team USATF return with a personal best of 2:19:12 that was an American record when she ran it at Houston in January 2022.
D’Amato will be joined by Susanna Sullivan and Lindsay Flanagan as they attempt to repeat Oregon glory. Sullivan finished 10th at this year’s London Marathon with a lifetime best of 2:24:27, and was sixth at last year’s Chicago Marathon. The 2015 Pan American Games silver medalist, Flanagan was most recently sixth at the Tokyo Marathon and set her personal best of 2:24:43 in winning the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia in 2022. She is making her second World Championships appearance, placing 37th at the 2017 edition.
Three-time World Championships team member Elkanah Kibet will lead the U.S. men and is coming off a ninth-place effort at the Prague Marathon May 7, where he clocked a 2:10:43. Kibet took 24th at the World Championships in Eugene last summer and was ninth at the Boston Marathon in 2022 with a lifetime best 2:09:07. He also placed 38th at the 2019 Championships in Doha, and was 16th in 2017. Kibet’s top placing in a marathon major was fourth at the 2021 New York City race.
Zach Panning is a relative newcomer to the marathon after only two career races at the distance. Panning ran an excellent 2:09:28 to take 11th at Chicago in 2022 after running 2:15:04 the previous year to also place 11th. On the track Panning has run 27:51.20 for 10,000m and was 12th at the USATF Championships last summer. He also took 11th in the 2021 Olympic Trials at that distance. Nico Montanez holds a personal best of 2:09:55, set at Chicago in 2022 and placed seventh at the Chicago Marathon in 2021. A regular force on the road, Montanez won the 2022 USATF 15km Championships in 43:10 and holds a half marathon personal best of 1:01:13, set at the 2021 USATF Half Marathon Championships.
Miranda Melville is leading a trio of seasoned veterans in women’s 35km race walk. She walked a personal best time of 2:57:22 to win the 2023 USATF 35km Race Walk Championships in January for her first national title at the distance. Melville is a two-time USATF champion in the 20km race walk, and shows impressive speed with her ability to drop down in distance to win two indoor USATF titles at 3,000m. She finished 29th at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, clocking a 3:05:31 35km.
Joining Melville are star walkers Maria Michta-Coffey and Stephanie Casey. One of the most decorated race walkers in the U.S., Michta-Coffey holds gold and bronze NACAC medals at the 20km distance and has won a whopping combined 18 USATF titles. She’ll enter competition with a 35km lifetime best of 2:58:39. Teammate Stephanie Casey will make her return to the world stage, having placed 24th at last year’s Championships with a 3:00:54. At the 2023 USATF 35km Race Walking Championships, Casey nabbed bronze with a lifetime best of 3:00:05.
The marathon course in Budapest will start and finish in historic Heroes’ Square and will utilize a 10km loop course that tours many of the most famous sights in the city. Runners will cross the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, which was recently renovated, as they climb toward Buda Castle and traverse the tunnel under the castle before again crossing the bridge on their way back to the Pest side of town. One of the most challenging parts of the course will be a short jaunt behind Saint Stephen’s Basilica, where the athletes will make a 180-degree turn. The race walk will be contested on a 2km circuit, starting and finishing in Heroes’ Square.
The 35km race walk will take place at 7:00 a.m. local time on August 24 and both marathons will start at 7:00 a.m., with the women racing on August 26 and the men the next morning.