​Update: ​Ludlow is retiring, and heading to nursing school next month.

U.S. 800m star Molly Ludlow is pregnant and won't race this summer. The 29-year-old Saucony athlete announced her news via instagram this morning; she and husband Reed are expecting their first child in October.


Ludlow is one of the most consistent half milers in America. She has twice finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012 and 2016. She set her PB of 1:57.68 in Monaco last summer to become the seventh-fastest American woman of all-time. In 2015, she was part of 4x800m that won gold and set the American record of 8:00.62 the IAAF World Relays.

She has not said whether or not this signals the end of her competitive career, but we would guess not. Her half mile contemporary, Alysia Montaño, gave birth in 2014 and won the USATF National Championship the following year.