First official female Boston Marathon champion dies at 86

Nina Kuscsik, the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon, died Sunday morning in Huntington, N.Y., after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 86.

Kuscsik was a two-time New York City Marathon champion and made history in 1972 by becoming the first woman to win the Boston Marathon (with an official bib) with a time of 3:10:26. That same year, she also won the New York City Marathon in 3:08:41; she defended her title in 1973.

#OTD in 1972, women were allowed to officially run the Boston Marathon. Nina Kuscsik emerged from an eight-member field to win the race in 3:10:26. pic.twitter.com/yJDmoKJMdO

— Admirable Women (@AdmirableWomen) April 17, 2025

Kuscsik played a pivotal role in advocating for women’s participation in distance running. In late 1971, she helped influence the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union (USAAU) to increase its maximum race distance for women, paving the way for their official inclusion in marathons. The 1972 Boston Marathon marked the beginning of that era.

In 1996, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) retroactively recognized the unofficial women’s winners from 1966 through 1971 as champions.

Kuscsik was the only woman to participate in the first New York City Marathon in 1970, though she did not finish the race, due to illness. The following year, she became the second American woman to complete a marathon in under three hours, clocking 2:56:04—just behind American Beth Bonner, who won the same race in 2:55:22.

Before she took up running, Kuscsik was a New York state champion in women’s speed skating and bicycling. According to Runner’s World, she began running after her bicycle broke, and she needed a new way to stay active.

A lifelong advocate for equality and women’s rights, Kuscsik helped change policy as early as 1957, when she petitioned New York state to grant nursing licenses to women under 21. As a result, she received her license at 18. In 2022, she was awarded the prestigious Abebe Bikila Award by the New York Road Runners (NYRR) for her outstanding contributions to the sport of distance running.