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First American woman wins Boston Marathon since 1985

Des Linden is making history.

Nicole Gallucci

on April 16, 2018

The 2018 Boston Marathon took place on Monday and 34-year-old runner Desiree Linden became the first American to win the women's race in 33 years.

Linden, who represented the United States in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, endured the rain and cold Boston temperatures to take the history-making victory, the first for an American woman in this marathon since 1985. Her time was 2 hours 39 minutes 53 seconds.

Here's emotional footage of her running across the finish line celebrating by hugging her husband and coach.

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After news of the long-anticipated victory spread, Twitter flooded with congratulations from fans, fellow athletes, and others inspired by Linden's hard work.

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Many who were keeping up with the race also took the time to celebrate the fact that Linden stopped to help her teammate Shalane Flanagan take a bathroom break at a Port-a-Potty earlier. It appeared as though Linden slowed down to wait for Flanagan, who ended up coming in sixth, and helped her build up momentum again.

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Like Linden, Flanagan recently made history and became the first American to win the women's New York City Marathon since 1977.

As for the men's race, 31-year-old Yuki Kawauchi, of Japan, won with a time of 2:15:53.

Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.