Sydney Marathon: Jess Stenson and Lisa Weightman to face off after ugly Olympics feud

Jess Stenson hopes the Olympic cold war after her controversial selection over former friend Lisa Weightman has thawed as they prepare to clash in this year’s Sydney Marathon.

They were the two main characters in the messy Paris Olympics marathon selection drama with the fallout between former friends Jess Stenson and Lisa Weightman continuing.

The pair haven’t spoken since Stenson raced in Paris after jumping Weightman in the selection queue but are now set to face off in the Sydney Marathon when it makes its debut as one of just seven World Marathon Majors on August 31.

Stenson is the leading local hope in the event which has attracted a superstar line-up including reigning Olympic women’s champion Sifan Hassan and Kenyan legend Eliud Kipchoge.

She more than justified her selection in Paris being the first Australian woman home, finishing in 13th position, ahead of Genevieve Gregson (24th) and Sinead Diver who controversially pulled out injured after one kilometre.

Six women had met the Olympic entry standard for Paris with Weightman, a four-time Olympian and two-time Commonwealth Games medallist, the third-fastest in the qualification period. But selectors decided to go with Stenson, the gold medallist from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, who ran her qualifying time just six months after giving birth to her second child.

Lisa Weightman and Jess Stenson after the Gold Coast Marathon in 2018. Picture: Instagram

Weightman, 46, was furious after her non-selection and it got personal when husband Lachlan McArthur angrily tweeted at Stenson, asking her to remove the header image on her Twitter account which had a picture of both families happy after a race.

Stenson says it was a very emotional time for everyone involved.

“It was such a big event that people had worked towards for such a long time and you can always appreciate where someone else is coming from,” she said.

“We haven’t had the opportunity to race or catch-up since and you just hope that everyone will be able to understand what the other person had put into it.

“It was never going to be easy and I think that’s what everyone accepted in the end, it was just a really difficult situation whichever way it went.”

A tweet which surfaced during the fallout of the Olympics selection. Picture: Supplied

Stenson, who turns 38 in August, said she wasn’t sure what the solution was to avoid a similar controversy ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics.

“I don’t know what the plan is with LA, there was talk of potentially a marathon trial,” she said. “When you have got the depth you can do that like America does but I don’t know if Australia is quite there yet unless it was a trial within a race that already exists.

“But if you were to do that you would perhaps want to try to mimic the course … it will be interesting to see what happens when LA rolls around as there is no marathon in the Commonwealth Games next year so LA will be the focus for marathoners from now because there is no in-between championship.”

Like a fine wine Stenson continues to get better with age, running a personal best 2hr22min56sec in Tokyo in March, and is the favourite to collect the $30,000 bonus on offer for the first Australian home in the Sydney race.

Jess Stenson after competing in the women’s marathon in Paris. Picture: Getty Images

She elected the bypass the Tokyo world championships marathon in September for the opportunity to run in a major on home soil given her fond memories of the last time the Harbour City staged such an event.

“I remember as a child entering every competition under the sun to go to the Sydney Olympics,” Stenson said. “We got to go as a family because we ended up getting tickets and seeing the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time was such a thrill.

“So to be 25 years later running a marathon there, I certainly didn’t envisage that when I was a 12-year-old watching the female marathoners run past us.

“We were actually at my mum’s cousins place in their front yard and the marathon ran straight past us. Now I get to run on those streets and it will be my 20th career marathon.”

Stenson is racing in the Gold Coast half-marathon next week before returning to Adelaide where the secret to her Sydney Marathon preparation will be an altitude tent in her living room.

“I really do feel I benefit from altitude training but it’s just not feasible this year to physically go to altitude,” she said. “So I’m setting up the tent at home, I don’t know how it will go, young kids and me sleeping in a tent could be a disaster.”

Originally published as Sydney Marathon: Jess Stenson and Lisa Weightman to face off after ugly Olympics feud