Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn started the women's DMR at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston and it was another Olympic bronze medalist, Jenny Simpson, who anchored the team to a new world record time of 10:40.31. Simpson, an Oviedo High School alumni, ran the 1,600m leg in 4:27.66 to help the quartet break the previous record of 10:42.57, set in 2015.
New Jersey High School senior Sydney McLaughin ran a blistering 2nd leg in the 400m dash of 52.32 while Brenda Martinez ran 2:01.94 for 800 meters to put Simpson in a great spot to set the World Record. She says when she started her leg she knew the math and exactly what she needed.
"Today was different for me because it wasn't about some individual time and I kept telling myself don't show off. This isn't about showing everyone how fast you can run. This is about knowing the math, executing, and getting under 10:42."
She adds that early on she held back and went out conservative because she realized she is responsible for not throwing in the trash all the hard work of the three legs before her.
"When you're front running like that the lead can be a challenge deep into the race. So I just said run the splits you need to run. Be conservative so that you know late in the race you can kick hard and run for the record."
DMR World Record Splits:
Sydney McLaughlin (400m): 52.32
Brenda Martinez (800m): 2:01.94
Jenny Simpson (1600m): 4:27.66
