Hillary Bor set a championship record while Kiera D’Amato won her second title in three years at the 2024 USATF 20 km Championships during Labor Day weekend from New Haven, Connecticut. The USATF 20 km Championships, hosted by the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race, were the ninth stop on the 2024 USATF Running Circuit. On-demand viewing of the USATF 20 km Championships will be available following the conclusion of both races on USATF.TV. Bor captured his seventh career USATF national title and fourth title on the USATF Running Circuit, winning the men’s race in a time of 58:09.9, besting Matt Tegenkamp’s 2012 championship record time of 58:30. Bor’s early-racing tactics set the tone from the start, running a quick 9:12 through the first two miles, with Sam Chelanga, Biya Simbassa and Kirubel Erassa among the mix. After four miles, the men’s field began to fall back and Bor’s lead was nearly 10 seconds. At the halfway mark, the lead grew to 20 seconds for Bor and from there ran solo all the way to the line en route to winning another national title. Nathan Martin made his way up throughout the race despite falling back early, eventually settling for second overall in 58:26 after running down Simbassa in the final stretch, who finished third in 58:29. Aidan Reed was another to make a late charge in the end and crack the top five, running 58:31 for fourth overall. Chelanga, one of the early leaders, settled down to fifth overall in 59:37. Reed Fischer followed Chelanga nearly a minute and a half later for sixth place, running 59:59 as the only other athlete to break the hour mark. Sprinting to seventh and eighth place were Reid Buchannan and Nick Randazzo, running 1:00:14 and 1:00:19, respectively. Tai Dinger captured ninth in 1:00:27 and Habtumu Cheney rounded out the men’s top 10 in 1:00:36. D’Amato, who set the course record at the 2022 championships in 1:04:29, used a couple of late surges over the last few miles to pull away in the end and cross the finish line first in 1:06:25 to win the women’s race by 25 seconds. Early on, the women’s lead group featured eight women, including D’Amato, figuring out each other's racing strategies. Through three miles, Jess McClain set the pace at around 15:10, with D’Amato, Annie Frisbie, Lauren Hagans, Emma Grace Hurley and Savannah Berry among the mix. The first lead change happened at mile five when Lauren Hagans took the lead at 26:30. At 10 km in 33:18, both Hurley and D’Amato began pressing with Hagans as the second half began to wind up. The race began dwindling nine miles in when the pack went to four, with D’Amato, Hurley, McClain and Berry starting to surge away. With a little over two miles to go, D’Amato had enough and threw in another surge, creating separation by almost 10 meters. D’Amato continued surging over the final minutes and her lead grew by as much as 30 meters to string away from the field for good to run to a fourth USATF national title. McClain managed to dip under 67 minutes for second place, finishing in 1:06:50 behind D’Amato for her best finish this season on the USATF Running Circuit. Berry, making her season debut on the USATF Running Circuit, ran herself to third overall in 1:07:03, just ahead of Annie Frisbie and Emma Grace Hurley, who finished fourth and fifth in 1:07:19 and 1:07:29, respectively. Hagans trailed 14 seconds later in sixth position, running 1:07:43 after racing out front early on in the field. Makena Morley found herself finishing seventh in 1:08:19, while Carrie Ellwood and Rachel Smith battled for eighth and ninth as they simultaneously crossed the finish line together in 1:08:45. Aubrey Frentheway completed the top 10, running 1:09:12. About the USATF Running Circuit The USATF Running Circuit is a USATF road series featuring USATF championships from one mile through the marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 to be awarded in total prize money. A total of $19,000 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF 20 km Championships. The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF 20 km Championships, scoring is set as 15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, with those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series. The mission of the USATF Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USATF Running Circuit and its races have provided over $7 million to U.S. distance runners. Contributed by Keenan Gray