WASHINGTON - Keira (Carlstrom) D'Amato graduated from American University in 2006 as one of the most decorated athletes in school history. An 11-time individual Patriot League champion, six-time PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year, four-time All-American, and CoSIDA Academic All-American, D'Amato looked poised for a successful post-collegiate career. But two years after hanging up the AU uniform, D'Amato was battling injury and hung up the spikes for good, or so she thought.

Now, almost 15 years later, D'Amato has exploded back into the track world in a real and lasting way. Since 2018, when she hit the "B" standard qualifying time for the U.S. Olympic Trials, D'Amato has consistently placed herself among the top tier of elite women in American distance running. This was never more evident than on November 24, when she capped off a year peppered with milestones with one of the ultimate accomplishments - an American record.

At the inaugural run of the Up Dawg 10-Miler in Washington, D.C., D'Amato led the small field of five elite women with a final time of 51:23, breaking the previous record held by Janet Bawcom since 2014 by 49 seconds. 

D'Amato sat down with AUEagles.com to talk about this historic day in the first of a two-part interview.



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