Scandals & Feuds ·
Officials Said Kendall Schler Concealed Her Bib. Her Marathon Win Was Voided.
Race officials said Schler entered after the final checkpoint rather than running the full course. Andrea Karl learned about half an hour later that she had won.
Kendall Schler appeared to be the first woman to finish the GO! St. Louis Marathon in April 2015. She posed for a victory photograph with former Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee. But race officials said the 26-year-old from Columbia, Missouri, had joined the course after its final checkpoint, with her race number concealed beneath her shirt, rather than running the full 26.2 miles.
Organizers stripped Schler of the title. The actual winner, Andrea Karl, did not learn she had won until about half an hour after the race, according to race president Nancy Lieberman. By then, the finish-line recognition had gone to someone officials said had not completed the course.
Lieberman told The Associated Press that officials had questions about Schler’s performance immediately. Her bib and number were on her leg, covered by a shirt, contrary to the marathon’s guidelines. Her seven interval times had not registered, and U.S. Track and Field officials stationed on the course had not seen her among the competitors, much less among the leaders. Lieberman said Schler later admitted removing the timing strip from her bib in both the 2015 race and the previous year’s event, offering that as the reason for the missing times.
Officials also revisited Schler’s third-place finish in 2014, which had qualified her for the 2015 Boston Marathon. Race officials said she had entered the St. Louis course late that year as well. They voided the time, her Boston entry was vacated, and she was barred from future GO! St. Louis events.
Lieberman said she spoke with Schler on the Wednesday after the race and asked for photographs showing her running the 2014 event. Schler did not respond to the request, Lieberman said. When Lieberman explained that she would have to notify Boston about the questioned qualifying time, Schler asked how she could find out whether she could still run there. “That was pretty much the end of the conversation,” Lieberman recalled. The AP could not reach Schler for comment that Friday.
Correcting the result could not restore Karl’s original finish. Lieberman said organizers were considering another event with Karl and sponsors “so she does get her day.” She asked readers to imagine leading for 26.2 miles, with the crowd cheering, only to find that “there’s no finish line tape” at the end.