EUGENE, Oregon — Three American women ran courageous and well-paced races to finish in the top eight in the World Athletics Championships women's marathon Monday morning and lead Team USATF to the team title. Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia matched her countryman, men's champion Tamirat Tola, by taking gold in a meet record. A very quick early pace separated a group of about 10 women from the rest of the field over the opening 3km, with Keira D'Amato (Midlothian, Virginia/USATF Virginia) joining three Kenyans and three Ethiopians going through that checkpoint in 9:45. In the cluster behind that lead group, Emma Bates (Boulder, Colorado/USATF Colorado) and Sara Hall (Flagstaff, Arizona/USATF Arizona) were at 9:50. Before the 5km split, D'Amato had let go of the leaders and drifted back, going through in 16:15, five seconds behind an eight-woman pack led by defending champion Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya. The nearest chasing group was already 18 seconds behind but still on a relatively rapid pace. Through 8km in 25:57, the leaders were 26 seconds ahead of D'Amato and the next group that included Bates and Hall had closed to within nine seconds of the woman who in January had bettered the American record with a 2:19:12 at Houston. Chepngetich continued to lead the front pack through 10km in 32:39, just under 2:18 pace as the pace slowed due to the bridge climb included in that segment. D'Amato, Hall, and Bates were about 30 seconds behind the lead group, with D'Amato at 33:09. The gap between the leaders and the chase pack narrowed to 19 seconds by 12km and over the next mile the followers had a much better view of the lead pack in front of them. A surge after the drinks station widened the margin again and they were at 49:29 for 15 km with Kenya's Angela Tanui a step ahead of the other seven leaders, while the three Americans were 22 seconds adrift. After Chepngetich stepped off the course and lost touch with the leaders, four women pushed the pace to break away and they threw down a 3:05 kilometer split to help their cause. Gotytom Gebrslase and Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia were running side-by-side with Judith Korir of Kenya as that lead pack dwindled to three at 20km in 65:36. The fourth 5km split was the fastest to that point at 16:08, adding to the ever-increasing lead. Hall, Bates, and D'Amato went past 20km in 66:42, more than a minute behind the lead trio, and the frontrunners hit the half marathon mark in 69:01, still on 2:18 pace, with the Americans just over 2:20 after going through in 70:17. Tanui rejoined the leaders by 24km and Bates was a few strides behind her U.S. teammates, but the chasers were still 1:26 behind the lead group. As the tempo increased yet again with a 3:17 kilometer, Tanui struggled to stay in touch while behind them Hall and Jess Piasecki of Britain had broken away from Bates and D'Amato. From 20-25km, the 5km split was 16:28 for the leaders, showing how varied the pace was through the undulating course, and Korir was in control of a lead quartet that soon became a trio with Tanui fading as they went up and over another bridge. Gebreslase and Korir dropped Yeshaneh going past a drinks station, putting a lot of distance between them in the space of 800m. Heading into the final 14km loop, Korir led and was a half-step ahead of Gebreslase, going past 28km in 1:31:45. Yeshaneh was six seconds off that tempo and Tanui a further six seconds back. Sara Hall also upped her tempo and started to move away from the rest of the chasers, but was in eighth and had 1:39 to make up on the leaders. D'Amato was 29 seconds behind Hall, with Bates nine seconds behind D'Amato. A 16:04 5km split for the lead duo explained their increasing lead, and Korir went past 30km in 1:38:08. Hall had moved into seventh and went by that mark in 1:40:14, just over a minute behind the next group she was aiming to pick off. In the battle for bronze, Israel's Lornah Salpeter and Nazret Weldu of Eritrea moved past Tanui and Yeshaneh, with Yeshaneh stopping just before the 35km mark. The 7th 5km segment was covered in 16:33 by the lead duo, hitting 35km in 1:54:41, and Hall was sixth in 1:57:18. D'Amato and Bates were eighth and ninth in 1:58:32. With just over 5km to go, Korir and Gebreslase continued to run in tandem and went through 37km in 2:01:01, with Hall sixth in 2:04:14 and the other two Americans 1:20 behind her in seventh and eighth. Salpeter dropped Weldu by 40km to put a firm grip on the bronze. Coming down the bridge over I-5, Gebreslase put on a big move and gapped Korir by about 15 meters. Running in only her third marathon after a third-place finish at Tokyo earlier this year, the Ethiopian was trying to make it a sweep of the marathon golds for her nation after the victory by Tamirat Tola in Sunday's men's race. Gebreslase finished strong, crossing the line in 2:18:11 to destroy the Championships record and set a lifetime best. Korir held on for silver in 2:18:20, also well under the previous meet record, and Salpeter claimed the bronze in 2:20:18. Weldu took fourth in 2:20:29, making four women who bettered the existing Championships record. Hall polished off a stellar last half of the race to place fifth in 2:22:10, by far the fastest ever by an American woman at the World Championships. Bates was seventh in a lifetime best 2:23:18, with D'Amato right behind her in 2:23:34 to seal the team title for Team USATF. Click here to find out how to watch. A full list of results and schedule of events can be found here. 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