NYRR Media Center

 Olympian Dakotah Popehn finished the 2025 Chicago Marathon as the second-fastest American, establishing a new personal best of 2:24:20. Earlier in the year she was second to her teammate Annie Frisbie in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. She also ran the 2025 Boston Marathon, finishing in 2:26:09, and completed the United Airlines NYC Half.

Popehn, formerly Lindwurm, was the top American finisher at the 2024 Paris Olympic Marathon, finishing in 12th in 2:26:44. Within minutes of the race, she received a surprise proposal from her boyfriend, Montana, and the two eloped just before she lined up for the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon. Earlier in 2024, she earned a spot on Team USA by finishing third at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, despite entering the event as the 10th-fastest woman on paper. 

She joined the Minnesota Distance Elite team in 2017 and made her Olympic Marathon Trials debut in 2020, finishing 36th. She then gained name recognition as a professional runner after claiming back-to-back victories at the Grandma’s Marathon in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Popehn finished sixth at the United Airlines NYC Half and set a personal best of 2:24:40 at the Chicago Marathon, finishing in 12th place.

Born and raised in St. Francis, Minn., Popehn was a hockey goaltender in high school and at Northern State University, a small Division II school in South Dakota where she also walked onto the cross country and track teams and became an NCAA Division II All-American.