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Desiree Linden became the first American woman since 1985 to triumph in the Boston Marathon on Monday, and she prevailed despite waiting on compatriot Shalane Flanagan to take a bathroom break.
Per Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe, Flanagan stopped over an hour into the race. Linden waited even though the move cost her 10 to 15 seconds.
Linden, 34, came home first in the rain in just shy of two hours and 40 minutes, per Sports Illustrated's Chris Chavez:
Chris Chavez@ChrisChavez
DROUGHT OVER. Desiree Linden becomes the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years. Takes the victory in 2:39:54 https://t.co/GUVomLr8Yn
Despite her brief stop, she prevailed by more than four minutes.
USA Today's Roxanna Scott noted Linden and Flanagan are friends and that Linden was not confident of even completing the 26.2 miles. Linden said she stopped for Flanagan—the 2017 New York City Marathon winner—in an attempt to help her win:
"Honestly at mile 2, 3, 4 I didn't feel like I was gonna even make it to the finish line. I told her [Flanagan] in the race, I said if there's anything I can do to help you out, let me know because I might just drop out.
"When you work together, you never know what's going to happen. Helping her helped me and kind of got my legs back from there."
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