Olympic Runner Completes Boston Marathon 22 Weeks Pregnant

When Olympic runner Calli Hauger-Thackery crossed the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, she wasn't just completing 26.2 miles. She was doing it at 22 weeks pregnant, redefining what's possible for elite athletes who choose to become mothers.

The 33-year-old from Sheffield finished in 2 hours and 43 minutes, more than 20 minutes slower than her personal best. But for Hauger-Thackery, this race meant more than any medal she's won representing Great Britain.

The journey wasn't easy. At mile five, a trapped nerve in her glute forced her into the medical tent, leaving her dragging her right leg. She needed treatment again at mile 11, plus two bathroom breaks before hitting the halfway mark.

"There were many times before mile 13 when I did not think I was going to finish that race," she told BBC Sport. But the second half transformed into something special, with Hauger-Thackery feeling "a million dollars" as she found her rhythm.

This isn't even her first pregnant marathon. Hauger-Thackery discovered she was expecting after winning the Honolulu Marathon in December, where she'd been vomiting on course and blamed the heat. On Christmas Eve, she and her husband Nick learned the real reason.

She kept racing. In January, at eight weeks pregnant, she won the Houston Marathon in 2:24:17 during her first trimester, calling it "probably the hardest marathon" she's run.

The decision to start a family came after she didn't finish the Chicago Marathon in October. What began as a "sad, sad day" turned into exciting planning with Nick, who also serves as her coach.

With no outdoor World Championships or European Championships this year, and having already competed at the Commonwealth Games, the timing felt perfect. "If we do it this year, I'll have a two-year-old for the Olympics," she explained.

Why This Inspires

Hauger-Thackery joins legendary long-distance runners Paula Radcliffe, Liz McColgan, and Sonia O'Sullivan, who all continued competing around having children and came back stronger. Her journey shows a new generation that elite performance and motherhood aren't opposing choices.

She's faced criticism from "people behind the keyboard," but remains confident in her decisions. "I know my body and I know what's right for me," she said, noting her doctors fully support her choices and recent research backs up running during pregnancy for experienced athletes.

For Hauger-Thackery, who holds the joint second-fastest marathon time for a British woman and won bronze at the 2024 European Athletics Championships, these pregnant marathons carry deeper meaning. "It's a different kind of hard, in a more meaningful way, and I think it's just given me more purpose than ever before."

Her story proves that becoming a mother doesn't mean stepping away from greatness—it can be another path toward it.