© Copyright – 2025 – Athletics Illustrated

The California International Marathon, which takes place in Sacramento, CA, is a popular race for Americans as the course is fast, and for many years it has acted as a qualifier for the Olympic or World Championship Trials. For 2025, it was the USATF National Championships.

The course is net downhill and runs in one direction; therefore, the results do not count for records or standards.

For the 2025 edition, run on Sunday, December 7, it was Futsum Zienasellassie who won in a time of 2:09:29. In the women’s race, it was Molly Born who clocked a 2:24:09 performance for the win.

Born, a 26-year-old Oklahoma State alumna, takes the 2025 USATF Marathon Championship title and sets a new course record.

“I knew it was a possibility. It feels really good,” she said. “I’m glad to have kind of found my event, I think it’ll be the marathon going forward.”

On November 9, the 26-year-old ran a half-marathon in Boston in a time of 1:10:11 with training volume still in her legs.

Finishing in second place was Sara Hall, who clocked in at 2:24:36. She was followed by Megan Sailor in 2:25:16. The 42-year-old Hall may have been channelling Canadian Malindi Elmore, who finished 12th in Valencia in the time of 2:24:53 at age 45.

For 32-year-old Zienasellassie, he was happy just to be racing injury-free.

He won the event in 2022 in 2:11:01. For much of the race, Zienasellassie was letting Joseph Whelan lead, but passed him in the last few miles.

Whelan took second in 2:09:41, while Christian Allen clocked in 2:09:57 for third. For Whelan and Allen, Sacramento resulted in new personal bests for both.

Thirty-nine men ran sub 2:15:00, while at least 41 women ran sub 2:40:00.

Results

Top 40 men

PositionNameResult1Futsum Zienasellassie2:09:292Joseph Whelan2:09:413Christian Allen2:09:574Joseph Trojan2:10:385Chris Maxon 2:10:546Jacob Thomson2:10:547Will Nation2:11:138Jerrell Mock2:11:209Jason Weitzel2:11:4410Murphy Smith2:11:5811Mohammed Bati2:12:2812Nathan Martin2:12:5413Ryan Johnson2:12:5714Will Norris2:12:5815Will Loevner2:13:0016Zach Kreft 2:13:0417Ben Olson2:13:2318Jaquavious Harris2:13:5119Jack Mastandrea2:14:0120Emad Bashir-Mohammed2:14:0521Nick Randazzo2:14:1322Kyle King 2:14:1323Lars Dewall2:14:1824Owen Ritz2:14:1825Nico Montanez2:14:2026Nick Doud2:14:2227Benjamin Schneiderman2:14:2528Henry Pick 2:14:2629Ryan Ioanidis2:14:2730Garret Lee 2:14:2731Medhane Woldu2:14:3032Esteban Trujillo2:14:3133Ryder Searle2:14:3434Mark Messmer2:14:4735Mark Huizar2:14:4836Cameron Dickson2:14:4937Mitchell Ammons2:14:5038Aaron Davidson2:14:5739CJ Albertson2:14:5840Michael McCann2:15:03

Top 40 women

PositionNameResult1Molly Born2:24:092Sara Hall2:24:363Megan Sailor2:25:164Lindsey Bradley2:28:415Maya Weigel2:28:446Rebecca Schmitt2:28:467Madey Dickson2:28:558Kodi Kleven2:29:179Anne-Marie Blaney2:29:2110Tessa Barrett2:30:1011Biruktayit Eshetu Degefa2:30:3812Annie Heffernan2:30:5113Hannah Branch2:30:5514Jessa Hanson2:31:2115Kathryn Fluehr2:32:0016Sara Lopez2:32:2217Sarah Reiter2:32:3818Breanna Sieracki2:32:5119Erin McDonald2:32:5220Jenny Grimshaw2:32:5321Carolyn Buchanan2:32:5422Elizabeth Chikotas2:33:5523Sara Passani2:34:1924Clara Mayfield2:34:2625Dani Barrett2:34:3126Camila Noe2:35:0427Claire Benjamin2:35:3728Morgan Jensen2:35:4029Heather Kampf2:35:4330Rachel Hyland2:35:4431Jennifer Pope2:35:4932Sophie Payne2:35:5033Leigh Sharek2:35:5134Jen Odenheimer2:35:5335Katie Kellner2:35:5436Julia Giguere2:35:5737Abigail Morro2:36:0738Stephanie Rouse2:36:0739Melissa Berry2:36:1040Caitlin Phillips2:36:10