Caption: Dakotah Lindwurm celebrates her third-place win and qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics after the Marathon Team Trials in Orlando, Florida. Photo by Johnny Zhang, CITIUS MAG, all rights reserved.

ABERDEEN, S.D. – “I’m so excited that I punched my ticket to Paris. I’ve been dreaming and envisioning this moment for so long, and I can’t believe my dreams are coming true,” said Dakotah Lindwurm.

Lindwurm, a Northern State University alum, qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Marathon Team Trials in Orlando, Florida with a race time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 31 seconds. The 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris July 26 through Aug. 11.

This was her second attempt at competing in the Olympics. In 2019, she qualified for the 2020 Olympic trials, but due to unfavorable weather conditions, had a slower run. She started the next season with renewed determination and was named South Dakota’s female athlete of the year in 2021.

At Northern, Lindwurm competed on the Cross Country and Indoor/Outdoor Track and Field teams, where she was a five-time DII National Qualifier. Lindwurm was named an All-American in the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championship, a second team All-American in Cross Country 2017, and a first team All-American in DII 10,000 m in 2018.

Lindwurm became a professional runner and running coach in Minnesota. She won the famous Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota back-to-back in 2021 and 2022, finishing only a couple seconds shy of the course record in 2022.

Currently, Lindwurm is ranked as the 12th fastest woman marathoner in the USA. Lindwurm will go to the Olympics with Fiona O’Keeffe and Emily Sisson.