Running News Daily

Molly Huddle broke three American records November 1

On Sunday night, two-time U.S. Olympian Molly Huddle broke three American records in one run at a high school track south of Boston November 1. 

Huddle ran for 60 minutes, breaking, in order, the national 15,000m, 10-mile track and one-hour records. Before Sunday, each of these records belonged to former Ottawa Marathon champion Nancy Conz, who in 1981 ran all three on the same day (just like Huddle), also at an event in Massachusetts. With her big result, Huddle added to her long list of accomplishments in the sport (which already includes the American 5K and half-marathon records, among others).

The conditions on Sunday night were far from ideal for Huddle, and she spent her hour of running in the rain. That clearly didn’t affect her too much, and she cruised to her three new records, smashing each of Conz’s previous marks. 

In her 1981 record-breaking race, Conz’s first big result came after 15,000m of running, when she posted a time of 53:06. On Sunday, Huddle ran a blazing-fast 50:07.82, just shy of a sub-50-minute result. This works out to 3:20 per kilometre up to that point, and she still had just under 10 minutes and two more American records ahead of her. Back in ’81, Conz ran a 10-mile split of 55:58, which, once again, Huddle shattered, running 53:49.9. Finally, six minutes later, Huddle set her third record of the night, covering 17,930m in 60 minutes to beat Conz’s 39-year-old record of 17,273m.