Molly Huddle, a 2002 graduate of Elmira Notre Dame High School, set a new national record in the women’s outdoor 10,000-meter run while competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Huddle recorded a time of 30 minutes, 13.17 seconds on Aug. 12. Her finish in Brazil wasn’t quite fast enough to earn a medal, as she finished sixth, but it did see her break the 8-year-old United States record of 30:22.22 that had been set by Shalane Flanagan at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Huddle now owns two national records. She also is the United States’ best in the women’s outdoor 5,000 meters, a distinction she has held since 2010. She ran the current record time of 14:42.64 in that event in 2014. The prolific distance runner competed in her first Olympics in 2012, placing 11th in the 5,000.
Huddle, who grew up in Elmira’s Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, earned several sectional and state championships in both cross-country and track and field while attending Notre Dame High School. She went on to become a 10-time All-American runner with the University of Notre Dame, from which she graduated in 2007. She currently resides in Providence, R.I., and is married to Kurt Benninger, a Canadian distance runner whom she met in college.
