San Francisco Half Marathon: Kielar edges a razor-thin F35-39 finish

• Kayla Kielar wins F35-39 in 1:37:49 (7:28/mi), holding off Andrea Bühler by just six seconds at the line.
• Bühler ran the 11th-fastest women's split on the 2.2M→5.7M segment, surging from 12th to 10th among women — but couldn't sustain the gap to the finish.
• Rebekah Tinker's closing kick stood out: the 22nd-fastest women's split on the final 11.45M→Finish pushed her from 28th to 20th among women, landing her 3rd in F35-39 at 1:40:41.
• 225 finishers completed the F35-39 race, with the top 20 all breaking 1:58.

Kielar and Bühler ran the same 7:28/mi average, but the story of how they got there is different. Bühler was the aggressor early, posting the 11th-fastest women's split on the 2.2M–5.7M stretch and moving up to 10th among women — while Kielar sat steady at 12th. Bühler's early charge, however, came at a cost. She slipped back through the second half, falling to 13th among women by the finish. Kielar, meanwhile, locked in her position and answered with the 11th-fastest women's split on the 6.43M–8.3M segment, then held firm all the way home. Six seconds separated them at the tape — close enough to feel like a battle, but the race unfolded as a classic catch-up: Bühler pushed hard early, Kielar reeled her in.

Tinker told a different story entirely. Starting 28th among women, the 35-year-old San Franciscan was patient through the middle miles before unleashing the 22nd-fastest women's split on the final stretch to the finish, climbing to 20th among women and 3rd in F35-39 with a 1:40:41. That's a full three minutes back of Bühler, but the trajectory was unmistakable — she was moving while others weren't.

Elizabeth Campbell (4th, 1:43:59) and Yana Kunitskaya (5th, 1:44:08) rounded out the top five, separated by just nine seconds, with Campbell posting the 26th-fastest women's split on the 2.2M–5.7M segment to help establish her position. The cool, overcast San Francisco morning — 54°F with barely a breath of wind — gave the whole field as close to ideal racing conditions as the city offers, and the front of F35-39 made the most of it.