In her final race before the Olympic Trials Amanda Vestri delivered what may very well be the finest performance of her career. At the NYC Mini 10k on Saturday, Amanda went toe to toe with a world-class field, taking 4th overall and top American honors. In a field that included 2 of the 3 US Olympians in the marathon as well as multiple US Champions, Amanda came out ahead of all of her domestic rivals en route to a 31:17 performance through Central Park.
The race began relatively conservative, by the standards of the world-class field assembled. After the opening few minutes, 2 athletes broke away and a large chase pack comprised of Amanda and the rest of the Americans gave chase a few seconds back, passing the opening mile a shade over 5:00. However, by the 8:00 mark Amanda and the chase pack had bridged the gap and by 2 miles there was a large lead pack.
In the long uphill stretch from 2.5 miles to the 5k mark defending champion Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia began to stretch the pack. Amanda responded, slowly weaving her way through the strung out group of Americans to join the lead trio of Teferi, 2022 NYC Marathon Champion Sharon Lodeki, and 2:17 marathoner Shelia Chepkirui.
Passing 5k in 15:40, Amanda remained tucked in behind the lead trio, and slowly pulled away from the rest of the Americans in the field over the next mile. By 6k the lead trio began to press the pace and slowly pull away from Amanda. But Amanda remained poised, relaxed and feeling strong. She would continue to press forward over the final 2 miles of the course and cross the finish with a smile, running 31:17 for 4th place.
After the race Amanda was asked about her race, “I didn’t think I was going to run as well as I did today, but I certainly thought I could be contending for a top American finish. And that’s how it turned out today so I was super happy about that.”
You can get the full results here, listen to a short post race interview with Amanda on the NYRR podcast here (Amanda’s interview begins at the 8:45 mark), or catch a full replay of the race below.
You can catch Amanda next at the Olympic Trials in the 10,000m on June 29th, which we’ll preview in full next week.