Dominating victory for Deena Kastor at US Cross Country Championships in Boulder (© Victah Sailer)
Marathon runner Deena Kastor, bronze medallist of the Olympic race in 2004 and winner of London in 2006 with an American women’s record of 2:19:36 which remained the fastest time of the year, has successfully been treated for skin cancer.
As revealed on her web page - www.deenakastor.com - three spots on her body were identified, and after the cancerous areas were successfully and completely removed Kastor recently wrote on her webpage: “What a relief!”.
Kastor ran the Boston Marathon in April but there was no luck for her in that race, when she suffered period pains. Having been one of the big favourites she had to be content with fifth place in 2:35:09, though still won the US championship in Boston.
But after the recent good health news Kastor appears extremely motivated. Living in high altitude at Mammoth Lakes (California) the American has resumed training and reports: “My first couple of workouts back in training have gone great.” The 34-year-old is now looking ahead and intends to qualify for Osaka. The 10,000 metres will be her goal for the World Championships. To qualify she has to run the US Championships which begin in little more than three weeks from now.
In the summer season Kastor also plans to run 3000 and 5000m races in the big European meetings. Her long-term goal remains the Olympic marathon in Beijing next year. To qualify for that target she will have to return to Boston for the selection race, which will be held a day before the Boston Marathon next April.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
