Lisa Weightman is eyeing an Olympic qualifier at next month’s Chicago Marathon after posting a series of personal bests in recent months.
Weightman is in great shape after testing herself over shorter distances.
“It’s been fun jumping back into the racing circuit, jumping on lots of planes again,” Weightman told emageogroup.com.
“We focused on some shorter races and it’s worked out really well because I’ve managed to get PBs in pretty much everything I’ve raced.”
At the age of 40, Weightman is performing as well as ever, with all her best times coming in the past couple of years.
Weightman said careful race planning and the fact she had been a late starter had contributed to her sizzling form.
“This year we thought we want to get some times on the board this time and just back off the training a bit,” Weightman said. “If we can take that speed now into the marathon in Chicago hopefully we can get the big one and that would be a good marathon PB.”
Weightman said when she last competed in the Chicago Marathon in 2017, she hadn’t been able to train as much she’d liked in the lead up.
Weightman finished sixth two years ago.
“It was a great experience, but I certainly wasn’t in the shape I’m in now so I’m hoping for a better result this time,” she said. “Time is the most important thing for this one. I think if I run well from a time perspective then the place will take care of itself.
“It would be nice to sneak up on the podium, but we’ll see what happens. You’ve just got to get everything working for you on the day. You can’t say you’ve run a time until you’ve run a time.”
Weightman is shooting for a fourth Olympics at Tokyo next year but isn’t looking beyond her October 13 race in Chicago.
The Olympic qualifying time is 2:29:30.
“I haven’t thought about the Olympics at all,” she said. “I’m at the stage where I focus on what’s right ahead.”