As expected, Deena Kastor won the U.S. Olympic women's marathon trials in Boston Sunday, but only after fighting off a strong challenge from Magdalena Lewy Boulet. Lewy Boulet led by almost two minutes at the 14-mile mark, but Kastor rallied to win in a time of 2:29:35. Lewy Boulet was second (2:30:19) and Blake Russell third (2:32:40). All three earned spots on the U.S. Olympic team.

After running in second place for most of the race, Kastor, the U.S. women's marathon record-holder, caught Lewy Boulet with less than three miles remaining and pulled away to earn her first Olympic Trials victory. Kastor placed second in 2004 and went on to earn an Olympic bronze medal.

Both Russell and Lewy Boulet narrowly missed gaining Olympic berths in 2004, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, at the marathon Trials.

This year’s runner-ups included Zoila Gomez in fourth (2:33:53) and Tera Moody in fifth (2:33:54).

The lone U.S. women’s marathon gold medalist, 1984 champion Joan Benoit Samuelson, finished in 90th place (2:49:08) Sunday at age 50, setting an American record for the women’s 50-54 age group.