Running News Daily

Aliphine Tuliamuk announces pregnancy and planning for Tokyo Olympics

Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on Feb. 29, is due with her first child, a daughter, in January and plans to race at the Tokyo Games on Aug. 7.

Having a full pregnancy between qualifying for and competing in an Olympics is, of course, rare. The one-year Olympic postponement from July 2020 to July 2021, announced four weeks after the marathon trials, made it possible for Tuliamuk.

“My family plans were to race the Olympics [in 2020], and then run the New York City Marathon in November of this year and then, after that, start a family,” she said.Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials on Feb. 29, is due with her first child, a daughter, in January and plans to race at the Tokyo Games on Aug. 7.

Having a full pregnancy between qualifying for and competing in an Olympics is, of course, rare. The one-year Olympic postponement from July 2020 to July 2021, announced four weeks after the marathon trials, made it possible for Tuliamuk.

“My family plans were to race the Olympics [in 2020], and then run the New York City Marathon in November of this year and then, after that, start a family,” she said.

Tuliamuk will make a rare turnaround for a top-level marathoner. Many others returned from pregnancy to race 26.2 miles, but most after a longer break.

Notably in recent years, American Kara Goucher had son Colt in September 2010, then finished fifth in the Boston Marathon nearly seven months later. (Goucher also raced a half marathon less than four months after childbirth.)

Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe had daughter Isla in January 2007, then won the New York City Marathon that November.

In diving, Pat McCormick had son Tim in March 1956, then, eight months later, repeated as Olympic champion on the springboard and platform.

“One thing that I’ve been craving in this period is to hear stories of women who were having families and still planning to get back into competitive sports,” Tuliamuk said, “and I’m so excited that I’m going to be one of those women that other women will look up to because we need role models.”

“When I’m running, I don’t even feel like I’m pregnant,” Tuliamuk said two weeks ago. “It’s mostly just running for the love of it.”

Rosario hasn’t written a workout for Tuliamuk in months.

“Wake up every day, try to get a run in,” he said. “If your body tells you not to, then don’t.”

Rosario leans on experience from coaching another NAZ Elite pro, Stephanie Bruce, who twice returned from childbirth to marathoning. Bruce was sixth at trials and is racing another 26.2-miler, The Marathon Project, on Dec. 20, before turning focus to the Olympic track trials 10,000m.

Bruce stressed that every pregnancy and return to elite running is different, but she is confident her teamate can run well in Tokyo.

“It’s not like in the past where women were told, well, you can just race until you’re done racing, and then you can start a family,” said Tuliamuk, who recently re-signed with apparel sponor Hoka One One for the next four years. “You can do both of them.”