This 17-Year-Old Just Ran An Insanely Fast Marathon
Find out if this teenage phenom will be heading to Rio next year.
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It turns out that Alana Hadley isn’t the only teenage marathon phenom. 17-year old Alisa Vainio of Finland won her debut marathon this past weekend in the blazing time of 2:33:34. Her performance is the sixth fastest marathon time in Finnish history.
Even though Vainio’s time qualifies her for the Olympic Marathon in Rio next year, she does not meet the age minimum. Competitors in the marathon must be born before 1996. Vainio was born in 1997.
However she will try to qualify for the Finnish Olympic team on the track, with plans to compete in the 10,000 meters, where 1999 is the birth year cutoff. Qualifying time for the event is 32:15. Vainio’s current personal best is 32:58.18, which she ran on her way to winning the Finnish championships earlier this year.
Regardless of her impressive ambitions, Vainio’s motivations are that of a normal teenager. After her victory, she posted on Twitter that she ran so fast because “needed to blow off some steam after my matriculation exams.”
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