Why Olympic Marathon Alternate Jess McClain Suddenly Flew to Paris
Story by Sarah Lorge Butler
Often, we get wrapped up in the gold medalist and forget about the love of the sport. And forget about those that just really enjoyed getting here. Maybe not the whole last eight years – it’s been a road and a journey – but the last year or two of running has been so fun. I know it’s been a whole thing that I don’t have a coach, don’t have an agent, don’t have a sponsor. But I literally have just been running because I love it.
It’s been so freeing and there’s been no pressure.
I think I needed to step away from that infrastructure and that approach to the sport for a little bit. And it’s just been so fun. I think enjoying the process, not having that pressure coming into the trials – I had nothing to lose. I knew I had to be smart, that it could go sideways if I wasn’t. Getting here healthy was 100% the focus and enjoying every moment of training.” Jess McClain (née Tonn) stunned America on Saturday when she finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
She ran 2:25:46 for a personal best by nearly four minutes. She is unsponsored. She has a full-time job as the executive director of the Love Up Foundation. She also works as a marketing consultant. Before all of that, many in the track and field community remember her as Jess Tonn – the former Brooks Beast 5000m specialist and an All-American at Stanford. We didn’t have her on our pre-race predictions or our radar at all but now we will.
In this episode, we re-introduce you to Jess as one of America’s newest marathoning stars. She takes us through the past few years and how running may have always been part of her life but didn’t define her after leaving the professional ranks. She ran her first marathon in February 2022 with a 2:33 at the Mesa Marathon. She ran 2:29:25 at Grandma’s Marathon in June 2023. And then the stunner at the Trials. Even though she was seconds away from making an Olympic team, she is all smiles and calls this her favorite running memory of all-time.
Meet Jessica McClain, Your Olympic Marathon Alternate
In her third marathon, she ran a patient race and a 4-minute personal best to place fourth. Jessica McClain Places Fourth – 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (runnersworld.com)
Jess McClain: The Official U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Alternate.
Why Olympic Marathon Alternate Jess McClain Suddenly Flew to Paris – Search Images Jess McClain, who finished fourth at the Olympic Marathon Trials in February in Orlando and was the Olympic alternate, had made her peace last weekend by not running at the Games.
Then early this week she got a phone call from a Team USA official, telling her she might have the opportunity to race. Few details were given. It wasn’t clear to McClain which athlete—Fiona O’Keeffe, Emily Sisson, or Dakotah Lindwurm—was in question, or what the problem was, injury or illness.
It was McClain’s decision about whether she should travel to Paris. There was no guarantee she would line up. McClain didn’t hesitate. She hopped on a plane to Paris and after a 10-hour flight, arrived on the morning of August 7. She went straight from the airport to run the hilly 9-mile section of the marathon course.
But since she arrived, McClain has learned she likely won’t be needed.
It’s been a roller coaster. And McClain’s primary concern is for whomever is scheduled to run who is uncertain.
“I have had a pit in my stomach for four days,” she said.
“I can’t imagine. It sucks. It’s a crappy situation. I feel so bad for whoever it is.”
BONUS: The 1984 Olympics Marathon was insane… Bing Videos
McClain at the U.S. Marathon Trials in February.© James Gilbert – Getty Images
She did say she has been training all summer. She’s fit, ready to go, strong in the heat and on hills. If given the opportunity, she is confident she could do well. Being in limbo has made for a mix of emotions. McClain said she’s trying to embrace the opportunity of being in the environment of the Olympics, and she’s trying to soak it all in.
“It’s a cool sign that I’m so stoked at the possibility of being able to race,” she said.
McClain was fourth at the Trials, and then she was fourth at the Olympic Trials on the track in the 10,000 meters. This year she’s resurrected her pro career, since stepping away from elite running during the pandemic. She signed a contract with Brooks.
Garrett Heath, the Brooks sports marketing representative, said the company is so proud of McClain. “She’s a gamer,” he said.
“She puts herself in position to take advantage of situations. I think there is something to that consistency of just continuing to show up. And maybe she won’t run the Olympic Marathon this weekend, but she’s not going anywhere and she’s only building momentum from here.”
McClain was still trying to decide where to cheer for the Team USA runners on Sunday morning if she wasn’t needed herself. She’ll be out on the course drinking beer. Assuming she doesn’t run, McClain is trying to get a bib number for the people’s marathon tomorrow night in Paris, starting at 9 p.m. and going over the same course the elites will run. “I need to get a long run in,” she quipped.
Top 4 in the country x2. 
Jessica McClain is Reclaiming Fourth Place
After narrowly missing the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon and 10,000 meters, the 32-year-old is using her double Team USA alternate designation as a springboard for what’s next
Jessica McClain is a Paris Olympics Double Alternate – Now What? (outside online.com) To go from missing two Olympic Trials in 2016 & 2021 to finishing in the alternate spot two times this year was all I needed to prove to myself that I belong.
Some have commended me for doing this alone—with no sponsor up until March, no coach, agent, etc. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
I have learned so much from my amazing teammates who have been marathoning for way longer than I have for sound training advice and motivation to get out of bed for our early morning runs and track sessions.
@set4go_llc is a kick ass and innovative massage therapist in AZ who has made this 32-year old body feel stronger than it did at 25 (which has in turn made my 
stronger). George helped with a lot of strategy and confidence building going into both Trials experiences. Was so lucky to have him in Eugene this weekend—felt so strong and stacked out there!
@brooksrunning showed they believed in me again and now I feel like I have a whole army behind me. Our section coming down the home stretch was out of this world and us 10k athletes were lucky to run by it 25 times.
@xendurance made sure I got here with all of the nutritional & field support I needed to stay healthy and I am soo grateful.
And last but certainly not least, thank you to my family & friends who went from cheering for 2.5 hours through the streets of Orlando or from home to watching me run 25 laps around Hayward Field this past weekend. They’ve been supporting me on my running journey for 20 years now and have picked me up more times than they have probably celebrated with me.
The highs and moments like this are certainly what makes sticking with it worth it, but finding the people that piece you back together, encourage you along the way, and help you enjoy the day-to-day are what gives you that last gear when you’re pushing to the finish line.
[opening spiel]
Jim McKay:
Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… This is “ABC’s Wide World of Sports!” ABC Wide World Classic “The Agony of Defeat” Vinko Bogataj interview.
VINKO BOGATAJ AGONY OF DEFEAT WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS (youtube.com)
Wide World of Sports Intro 1978 (youtube.com)
Like millions of Americans in the 1970s … I also tuned in weekly to ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.” The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat – The opening sequence showed one skier gracefully racing down a mountain, and then another spectacularly wiping out while the narrator promised viewers “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” Something tragic and true was contained in this message. The possibility of calamity makes moments of triumph precious and worth pursuing.
The Agony of Defeat (Joshua 7:1-26)
After such a tremendous victory at Jericho, Joshua chapter 7 is surprising to say the least. Suddenly we are presented with a series of failures that stand in striking contrast to the wonderful victories of the past six chapters. How instructive this is if we only have the ears to listen to the message of this chapter. The thrill of victory was so quickly replaced by the agony of defeat. This is the story of life, and something we each must learn to deal with in our daily walk. One minute we can be living in victory and next in defeat.
The distance between a great victory and a terrible defeat is one step, and often only a short one at that. A fact of reality is that in a fallen world we can be riding high on the cloud of some great spiritual success, and the very next moment find ourselves in the valley of spiritual failure and despair. One moment we can be like Elijah standing victoriously on Mt. Carmel, and the next hiding out in a cave, fearing for his life, and complaining to God (1 Kings 19:10).
Chapter 7 opens with a small but ominous word, the word “but,” which contrasts this chapter with the preceding one, particularly verse 27. First, there was the thrill of victory, but now the agony of defeat. This little conjunction of contrast is designed to drive home an important truth, the reality of the ever present threat and contrasts of life—victory is always followed by the threat of defeat.
Never is the believer in greater danger of a fall than after a victory. We are so prone to drop our guard and begin to trust in ourselves or in our past victories rather than the Lord. One victory never ensures the next. Only as it builds our confidence in the Lord and develops our wisdom in appropriating God’s Word do our victories aid us for the next battle, but the basis of victory is always the Lord Himself and our faith/dependence on Him. A New Testament chapter that deserves consideration here is 1 Corinthians 10 and especially verse 12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
What the Bible says about Israel’s Unfaithfulness (bibletools.org)
The Agony of Defeat (Joshua 7:1-26) | Bible.org
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