PARIS – Former Northern State runner Dakotah (Bullen) Lindwurm was the top American runner in the women’s marathon at the Olympic Games on the way to a 12th place finish.
Lindwurm, who was a walk-on athlete at Northern, actually led for portions of the race and clocked a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 44 seconds.
Lindwurm was quoted after the race by FloTrack as saying, “Going up that (first) hill, I just felt so, so strong, and I closed back up with (the leaders). And by the time we turned to Versailles, I was like, did I just take a Mario Kart shortcut or something? Because all of a sudden I was in the lead. I didn’t know how, so that was pretty cool.”
Lindwurm is a native of St. Francis, Minn.
She was a five-time NCAA Division II national qualifier while running for Northern and earned first team All-American honors in 2017 in outdoor track, and second team honors in cross country.
In 2021 Lindwurm told SD SportScene, “Being at Northern State in Aberdeen is the reason that I’m able to continue to be a professional runner. It’s really what shaped me and set me up for success in my career now.”
Dutch runner Sifan Hassan won the women’s marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:22.55. She also won the bronze medal in the 5,000-meters and the 10,000 meters.
