San Francisco Marathon 2026: Qiongfeng Pan Surges Through the Field to Win F55-59

• Qiongfeng Pan won in 3:49:05 (8:44/mi), the only finisher in the F55-59 field to break 3:50.
• Hyunjoo Albrecht was 2nd in 3:51:15, just 2:10 back, with the 134th-fastest women's split on the 14M→16M stretch.
• Cheryl Spano, 59, ran 3rd in 3:55:06 (8:58/mi) — the oldest on the podium and one of the fastest starters in the group.
• A 57-finisher field spread across more than an hour of racing, from Pan's 3:49:05 down to the back of the pack.

Qiongfeng Pan's win was built on one of the most dramatic position climbs of the day. She entered the women's field ranked 574th at the first checkpoint — deep in the pack — and methodically hunted down runners across every segment, reaching 170th among women by mile 20 before holding steady to the line. That's a net swing of more than 400 places through the women's field, fueled by a consistent 8:44/mi pace through San Francisco's punishing hills and 15 mph winds. Her 65th-fastest women's split on the 9.6M→10.5M stretch shows she had real pop in the middle miles.

Hyunjoo Albrecht ran a very different race — measured and controlled from the start. She was already 226th among women by the first major checkpoint and stayed remarkably steady through the middle of the course, posting the 134th-fastest women's split on the 14M→16M segment. The gap between her and Pan at the line was 2:10, but the stories of how they got there couldn't be more different: Pan caught her from well behind, while Albrecht held her position with discipline. Third-place Cheryl Spano, at 59 the oldest finisher on the podium, actually ran the fastest start of the trio — she was as high as 102nd among women through the early miles — but faded progressively, finishing in 3:55:06. Her 119th-fastest women's split on the 4M→6M segment shows how strong those opening legs were.

Further back, Huijie Tang (4th, 4:05:45) and Anne Tu (5th, 4:11:12) each made steady forward progress across the race, with Tu climbing from 818th among women at the first checkpoint all the way to 434th by the finish — a remarkable grind. The next cluster — Marina Thiele (6th, 4:12:05), Kit Ling Sui-Miller (7th, 4:12:55), Susie Lee (8th, 4:17:15), and Molly Zorba (9th, 4:17:30) — were tightly bunched across just five minutes of racing, making for one of the more competitive mid-field battles in the 57-finisher F55-59 field.