by Elliott Denman
“Oh, don’t you cry for me.”
Stephen Foster was clearly prescient when he wrote those classic lyrics in 1848 – when Johnny Hayes, Gaston Strobino, Clarence DeMar, Joie Ray, Buddy Edelen, Frank Shorter, Kenny Moore, Don Kardong, Meb Kehflezighi, Joan Samuelson, Deena Kastor, Shalane Flanagan and an array of America’s brightest lights of the marathon game were multi-decades away from taking their first strides on earth.
But way–way-way back, banjo on his knee, Foster was obviously on to something.
This much-much latter-day story line was played out on the streets of Tokyo, Sunday morning, September 14, 2025.
Oh-oh-oh, did America’s Susanna Sullivan run the race of her life.
She didn’t claim a medal at the 20th World Championships of Track and Field, but there was no crying for this 35-year-old graduate of Falls Church, Va.’s Meridian High School and the University of Notre Dame, either.
She put guts on the line and covered herself in glory with her truly tantalizing fourth-place performance from National Stadium through the streets of Tokyo, and return. Sure, she just missed medaling, but she sure did make her mark.
October 13, 2014, photo by Kevin Morris
Chicago, Illinois, USA
For 26 or more – OK, K’s not miles – she poured on the pace, front-running through check-point after check-point.
For those not in Tokyo, Susanna delivered brilliant TV drama.
Peacock-watchers at home sat at the edges of their seat as she cruised the Japanese capital, seemingly oblivious to the threat of the chase pack looming multi-blocks behind. It would not have been hard envisioning her staying in front all the way to the finish line, in what surely would have been one of the most stunning marathon upsets in Worlds history.
Just a pair of U.S. marathoning women had ever medaled at Worlds – Marianne Dickerson ran second (to Grete Waitz) at Helsinki in 1983; Amy Cragg snared third at London in 2017.
Would Susanna, could Susanna, join that lustrous duo? As she cruised ever further, reaching 20K in 1:09:07, 25K in 1:26:31, that hope became a definite possibility.
As expected, the chasers stepped it up. But, on this steamy morning, just three of them eventually got past.
Long-shot of all long-shots, Susanna held on for a brilliant fourth place in 2:28:12
Placing fourth meant that she had outrun 72 others, a most unlikely outcome to any of the pre-Worlds formchart forumulators.
Eventually, reigning Olympic titlist Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya (also the 2021 NYC and 2022 Boston champion ) would outlast Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia for the gold by the slimmest of margins, 2:24:43 to 2:24:45.
And the third-placer, Julia Paternain, carried a heck of a side story line, too. She’d been born, 27 years ago, to Uruguayan parents then living in Mexico, but they all moved to England three years later, and that’s where she gained a love of the running game. College days at Penn State and Arkansas honed her skills. But when her running reached world-class levels, she made the call – she’d run for Uruguay. And that’s the tale of the South American nation – squeezed between Brazil and Argentina – and the route to its first-ever, any-event World Championships medal.
October 13, 2014
Chicago, Illinois, USA, photo by Kevin Morris
(Amazingly, the next day’s men’s men’s marathon was even closer, Alphonce Simbu of Tanzania diving over the line to overhaul Germany’s Amanal Petros; both were credited with 2:09:48s, the margin was milli-seconds.)
Oh Susanna, she’d come to come to Tokyo with a 2:21:56 best. The favored pack checked in with PRs miles better, with Jepchirchir at 2:11:53, a world record at Berlin in 2023. How’s this for intestinal fortitude? Oh Susanna, she paid no attention at all to that numbers stuff.
Heroic she was and let’s hope the plaudits rang out all the way from Japan to Susanna’s Northern Virginia home territory, and the rest of her nation, too.
Japan’s Kana Kobayashi had gone straight to the front in those early K’s, but the USA trio of Sullivan, Jessica McClain and Erika Kemp stayed close. (McClain eventually would claim an excellent 2:29:20 eighth place, but Kemp would fade all the way to 52nd in 2:50:35.)
In the lead, Sullivan kept her cool, sharing every available ice bag and utilizing every cooling technology. she could.
Sullivan, 35. has a “real life,” too, outside of the running game. She’s a sixth-grade math teacher at The Langley School in McLean, Va. Afternoons, she’s a volunteer assistant track/distance coach at George Mason University.
For the past five years, George Mason head coach Andy Gerard has guided Sullivan’s progress, helping build the inner fire that carried Sullivan to near-upset glory in Tokyo.
“Coach Gerard is great at showing the value of patience,” she has said. “Fifteen years past college, I’m still improving. That’s pretty unique.”
A George Mason press release puts it this way: “Sullivan embodies balance, grit, and passion. For George Mason athletes and for anyone chasing big dreams, her message is clear: dedication makes the impossible possible. “
October 13, 2014
Chicago, Illinois, USA, photo by Kevin Morris
She’d been a front-runner, too, at the 2023 Budapest Worlds marathon but she’d fade to 58th struggling through what became a fractured kneecap.
After that experience, Sullivan reflected, “”to not only come back, but to be running better than I ever have, it feels like such a gift. I don’t take this opportunity for granted.”
Resilience? That’s obviously her game.
At Notre Dame, she’d broken her pelvis, sidelining her collegiate career in the 5K and 10K.
All these years later, Susanna’s at the top of her game. Stay tuned, mara-fans, the best may yet to come.
