 Molly Ludlow in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 4, 1987 Worthington, Ohio [1] |
| Sport | |
| Country |  United States |
| Event(s) | 800 meters |
| College team | Indiana Hoosiers |
| Coached by | Ron Helmer |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 800 m: 1:57.68 (2016) |
Medal record | |
| Updated on August 14, 2015. | |
Molly Beckwith-Ludlow (born Molly Elizabeth Beckwith on August 4, 1987) is an American middle-distance runner.
Molly Beckwith was born on August 4, 1987, in Worthington, Ohio. [1] She attended Thomas Worthington High School, setting school records in the 200 meters and 400 meters as a freshman; in her sophomore and junior years she concentrated on soccer, dropping track and field. [2] She returned to the track in her senior year, but soccer remained her main sport, and after graduating from high school she went to Indiana University on a soccer scholarship. [2]
She played soccer through her freshman year at Indiana, but knee problems, which she had already suffered from in high school, forced her to drop soccer and give up her scholarship; track was not a problem for her knees, so she joined the Indiana Hoosiers' track and field team in her sophomore year, now running the 400 meters and 800 meters, and earned a new scholarship through that sport. The 800 meters soon became her main event, and she developed steadily. [2] [3] At the 2010 NCAA championships she placed second to Phoebe Wright in a personal best 2:02.14. [4]
Later that summer, she broke two minutes for the first time, running 1:59.83 in Lignano; sponsored by the shoe company Saucony, she turned professional. [3] She continued to train under her coach at Indiana, Ron Helmer. [5]
In 2011, her first full year as a professional, she improved her personal best to 1:59.12 (again in Lignano) and placed seventh at the United States championships. [4] In 2012, she placed second behind Fantu Magiso at the Adidas Grand Prix, running 1:59.18. [4] She narrowly missed qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympics; at the Olympic Trials she was in the top three until the end, but tied up and fell to fourth place with meters to go. [3] [5] She skipped the 2013 season to recover from her knee problems; she married Reed Ludlow, a former Division II collegiate basketball player, that fall. [5] She returned to the track in 2014, placing third at the United States championships; she finished in the top six in four Diamond League meetings, breaking two minutes in both Lausanne and Monaco. [4] Track & Field News ranked her #10 in the world that year, her first top 10 world ranking. [3] [6]
In 2015 Ludlow won gold with the American team in the 4 × 800 m relay at the World Relays; the team's winning time, 8:00.62, was a new American record. [5] She placed fourth at the United States championships in 2:00.09, missing qualifying for the World Championships in Beijing by 0.04 seconds. [7] The following week she improved her personal best to 1:58.68 at the Paris Diamond League meeting, where she also placed fourth. [4] After Ajee' Wilson withdrew from the World Championships due to an injury, Ludlow was named as her replacement. [8]
In July 2016, Ludlow competed in the Olympic trials, running 1:59.59 and again placing 4th by 0.04 seconds. One week later, she set a personal best of 1:57.68 in Monaco, becoming the seventh fastest US woman at that distance. [9]
Shannon Solares-Rowbury is an American middle-distance runner from San Francisco, California. After competing collegiately for Duke University, she turned professional in 2007. Rowbury has represented the United States at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics. She also represented the United States at the World Championships in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, winning the bronze medal in the 1500 meters in 2009. In 2015, Rowbury helped set the world record with the U.S. team for the distance medley relay event, and set a then-American record for 1500 meters on July 17, 2015, breaking Mary Slaney's 32 year-old mark with a time of 3:56.29.
Amy Cragg is an American track and field athlete, specializing in long distance running events. She is the 2015 American champion in the Marathon, the 2012 American champion in the 10,000 meters, and a qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Alysia Montaño is an American middle distance runner. She is a six-time USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800 metres champion. She gained significant publicity for the 2014 race that she competed while 8 months pregnant.
Molly Huddle is an American long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. She held the American record in the 5000 meters set in 2014 in Monaco (14:42.64), which has since been lowered by Shannon Rowbury and Shelby Houlihan. Huddle held also the American record in the 10,000 meters set at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a time of 30:13.17, which has since been lowered by Alicia Monson.
Desiree "Des" Nicole Linden is an American long-distance runner. She represented the United States in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon. In 2018, she won the Boston Marathon, becoming the first American in 33 years to win the woman's category in the event. She holds the women's 50K world record of 2:59:54.
Morgan Uceny is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in middle distance running. Uceny won three national championships and was the 2011 IAAF Diamond League Champion at 1500 meters. She ended 2011 as the first American since 1985 to be ranked number one in the world in the 1500 m by Track & Field News.
Alice Schmidt Kehaya is an American middle distance runner who specializes in the 800 meters. She represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 London Olympics and has competed at the World Championships in Athletics on three occasions.
Janet Cherobon-Bawcom is an American distance runner. She grew up in Kenya, before attending college in the United States. In college, she won three Division II national championships and was named an All-American eight times. She became eligible to compete for the United States in 2011. In 2012, she made the U.S. Olympic team in the 10,000 meters and placed 12th.
Ajeé Wilson is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 meters. She is the 2022 World indoor champion at the 800 meter distance, after earning silver medals in 2016 and 2018. Wilson won bronze medals at both the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships. She is the second-fastest American of all time in the event with a time of 1m 55.61s, and she holds North American indoor record.
Chanelle Price is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800-meter run. She has a personal record of 1:59.10 for the distance. She was the gold medalist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2014.
Winnie Nanyondo is a Ugandan middle- and long-distance runner. She has represented her native country in several important international events, including both the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2014 World University Cross Country Championships, the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the 2013 Summer Universiade, and the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics.
The women's 4 x 800 metres relay at the 2015 IAAF World Relays was held at the Thomas Robinson Stadium on 3 May.
Emily Infeld is an American long-distance runner. She regularly competes in the 5000 m and 10,000 m distances during her professional career; in her college career she regularly competed in the 4 × 800 meter relay and 1500 m on up to 5000 m.
Kerri Gallagher is an American middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500-meter run. She began to focus on running full-time in 2012 and consistently improved over the following years, resulting in a third-place finish at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2015. She competed collegiately for Fordham University.
Kate Grace is an American middle-distance runner. A multiple All-American runner for Yale University, she turned professional in 2011. Grace competed for the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, making it to the final of the 800 metres.
Raevyn Rogers is an American middle-distance athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event. At the 2019 World Championships, Rogers came from seventh with 100m remaining in the race to place silver over USA teammate Ajeé Wilson in bronze. She earned a world indoor title as a member of national 4x400 m relay squad that took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Laura Roesler is an American middle distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She is currently coached by Rose Monday and based in Florida.
Courtney Frerichs is an American middle-distance runner and steeplechase specialist from Nixa, Missouri, She is a three-time silver medalist in the 3000 meters steeplechase capturing silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the 2017 World Championships in London and at the 2018 World (Continental) Cup in Ostrava. In 2021, she became the first American woman to run under nine-minutes in a women’s 3000-meters steeplechase event with a time of 8:57.77; establishing an American and Area record. She is a two-time Olympian making the US team in 2016 and 2020. In both of her Olympic Trials she finished second to US National Champion, Emma Coburn.
Samantha "Sammy" Watson is an American middle-distance runner from New York.
Ce'Aira Brown is an American middle-distance runner. Representing the United States at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, she placed 8th in the final of the women's 800 metres. Brown placed third in the 800 meters at 2019 The Match Europe v USA. Ce’aira Brown To Be Inducted into MEAC Hall of Fame in 2023.
