Former Montana State runner Matt Richtman became the first American in 31 years to win the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.
Richtman, who was a two-time All-American cross country runner at Montana State, won the marathon with a time of 2:07:56, outpacing second-place Athanas Kioko of Kenya, who had a time of 2:10:55.
Pretty crazy result:
Matt Richtman, who was a very good, but not nationally dominant distance runner for us at Montana State until he graduated last year, just became the first American to win the L.A. Marathon in 31 years.
It was only his second ever marathon. pic.twitter.com/6fUGavJoLA
— Jeremy Carl (@realJeremyCarl) March 16, 2025
“I didn’t really have a super big plan coming into this. It’s always so tough to marathon just because so much can happen,” Richtman said afterward. “But really, I just told myself just to stay in that pack until about the halfway mark, that hour mark, and then if I felt good, I could make a move or something like that.
“(I) ended up going a little bit to the lead and no one really came with me, so I figured let’s make it honest and go for it.”
