San Francisco Half Marathon 2025: Shunkevich surges to claim F35-39

• Alena Shunkevich won F35-39 in 1:30:11 (6:53/mi), climbing from 7th to 2nd among all women by the finish and posting the 2nd-fastest women's split on the 10.54M–11.05M segment.
• Samantha Costantini held 2nd in F35-39 at 1:31:16 (6:58/mi), powered by the 4th-fastest women's split on the opening 1.81M–5.34M stretch — a gap of just 1:05 separated the top two.
• Becca Simon closed hardest of the podium, running the 3rd-fastest women's split on the 11.05M–Finish segment to lock up 3rd in 1:34:13 (7:11/mi).
• Maria Aleman (7th, 1:41:02) had already raced the weekend's Saturday 5K, where she finished 2nd among all women — making her half marathon result one of the weekend's better double-dip stories.

Alena Shunkevich, 39, from Montreal, was not sitting near the front early. She was 7th among all women through the opening miles, but she was clearly building. By the midpoint she'd moved to 5th, and then came the decisive stretch: her 10.54M–11.05M split ranked 2nd among all women in the race, a burst that vaulted her to 2nd in the women's field and sealed the F35-39 title. She crossed in 1:30:11 — a 6:53/mi effort that held up comfortably to the finish.

Samantha Costantini, also a local San Francisco runner, went out with genuine intent. Her 1.81M–5.34M segment was the 4th-fastest among all women — a strong early move that put her in the mix from the gun. She held 4th among women for the bulk of the race before finishing 3rd in the women's field and 2nd in F35-39 at 1:31:16. The 1:05 gap to Shunkevich tells the story: a real contest, but Shunkevich's late surge was the difference.

Becca Simon, 39, from San Francisco, spent most of the race outside the top nine among women before turning in the 3rd-fastest women's split on the final push to the finish. That closer earned her 3rd in F35-39 at 1:34:13 (7:11/mi). Behind the podium, Sarah Heesaker and Agustina Duarte staged the race's most dramatic charge — Heesaker climbing from 78th to 14th among women, Duarte from 41st to 15th, both posting top-ten women's splits on the same 10.54M–11.05M segment to land 4th (1:39:04) and 5th (1:39:09) in F35-39 with just five seconds between them.