Shalane Flanagan Joins WBZ-TV Boston Marathon Broadcast Team
BOSTON (CBS) – Four-time Boston Marathon elite runner and Marblehead native Shalane Flanagan is joining the WBZ-TV marathon broadcast team, the station announced Friday.
Flanagan, who holds the Boston course record for the fastest finish by an American woman, will be an analyst for the 123rd Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15 alongside WBZ-TV anchor Lisa Hughes and fellow race analyst Toni Reavis.
Flanagan, a four-time Olympian, finished in the top 10 all four times she ran Boston, including last year. Her best performance came in 2014 when she recorded the fastest time ever for an American woman in the race at 2:22:02.
Flanagan finished seventh in 2018 and she sounded like that might be her last competitive Boston Marathon but tears in a tendon in her knee took the decision out of her hands. She says she's about 80-percent right now, but is giving herself time to completely heal.
This will be her second Boston Marathon with WBZ-TV after working the race in 2017 when she was recovering from an another injury.
"I want to share my knowledge and my passion for the sport, and hopefully display how amazing running can be to the world, to Boston," Flanagan said. "It's fun telling the story of these athletes and how hard they work. It's like a piece of artwork, watching it unfold over two-plus hours."
Flanagan replaces longtime WBZ-TV Boston Marathon analyst Kathrine Switzer, who has been covering the race for the past 37 years. Switzer will take a step back from the full broadcast to focus on her foundation work.
WBZ-TV is the exclusive local broadcaster of the Boston Marathon. Pre-race coverage begins at 7 a.m. on Monday, April 15, followed by race coverage at 9 a.m.