U.S. Olympic Marathoners Will Race Mini 10K Together Before Paris (Exclusive)

Before Team USA’s Olympic marathoners tackle the hills of Paris, they’ll have to get through the Harlem Hills of Central Park. 

For their last race before the 2024 Paris Olympics, marathoners Emily Sisson, Fiona O’Keeffe and Dakotah Lindwurm will all tackle New York Road Runner’s Mastercard New York Mini 10K on June 8. 

The women’s-only race, which the non-profit running organization started in 1972, is a favorite of Sisson’s, she tells PEOPLE, thanks to the “energy” of the runners. 

“You’re just in Central Park for most of it, so the crowds are great,” she says. “It’s a lot of women out there supporting their friends or family, and supporting everyone, really. I find the energy is just really fun and everyone’s just in such good spirits.”

For O’Keeffe and Lindwurm, this will be the first time they’ve taken on the Mini.  

“I feel like it’s a great opportunity because it’s a shorter race distance, so it’s a good chance to really practice race tactics,” O’Keeffe, who won the Olympic Marathon Trials to snag the U.S.’s first spot, tells PEOPLE. 

Lindwurm agrees: “NYRR always put together such a great field that’ll be fun to go stick my nose where I feel like it doesn’t belong in a shorter race,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’ve never done the mini, so I’m excited to get my toes wet there.”

The three runners will be in the midst of preparation for the Olympic marathon when they toe the line in N.Y.C., so they largely plan to use the race as a speedwork day in between their double-digit long runs. 

“I want to show up and give it everything I have on the day, but the Olympics is the big goal, so I see this more as a step in the preparation then a big huge thing to get ready for,” O’Keeffe says. “I think this race will help us be stronger when we line up in Paris.”

After the Mini, the three women will get back to training for Paris and tackling the “challenging” course filled with elevation, Sisson says. 

“I’m looking forward to the race,” she says of the Olympic marathon. “It’s definitely a challenging course. I think it’s going to shake things up a bit.”

“I’m looking forward to the training even too, because it’s just so different than what I’ve been doing for my last marathon builds, and I think it’s fun just switching things up and keeping things fresh and feeling new.” 

And while the U.S. women traditionally have an uphill battle trying to beat out some of the fastest women in the world like Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and the Netherland’s Sifan Hassan, the marathon is full of surprises, as the U.S.’s Molly Seidel — who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics — knows well.

“When I’m there I’ll just try to take it all in and enjoy it,” Sisson, the American record holder in the marathon, says. “You just don’t know how many experiences like that you get in a career. I just never want to count myself out.”