Weini Kelati crushed the course record at the Manchester Road Race last year and she’s back as part of a stellar women’s field

Weini Kelati, who smashed the women’s record at the Manchester Road Race last year, will return to run the iconic Thanksgiving Day race this year.

Kelati, 25, of Flagstaff, Ariz., won the 4.748-mile race in 22 minutes, 55 seconds, more than a minute faster than previous record holder Buze Diriba (23:57, 2017).

She finished 18th overall, leading runner-up Keira D’Amato to say that day: “She was just crushing it, man. She crushed a lot of dudes today.”

Kelati will be joined on Nov. 24 by Jordan Hasay, Canadian Olympian Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, Anna Dibabe of Ethiopia and Cynthia Limo of Kenya in what could be one of the fastest women’s fields for the 86th running of the race.

Kelati, who was born in Eritrea but became a U.S. citizen in June 2021, was a standout at the University of New Mexico, winning the NCAA championships in the 10,000 meters and cross country in 2019.

Hasay, who finished third at the Boston Marathon in 2019 and has a marathon PR of 2:20:57, finished third (24:27) at the Manchester Road Race in 2016, her only appearance in Manchester.

DeBues-Stafford was fifth in the Tokyo Olympics in the 1,500 meters and holds national records in the 1,500 (3:56) and 5,000 (14:31). She is making her road racing debut at Manchester.

Dibaba is the younger sister of three-time Olympic gold medalist Tirunesh Dibaba and Genzebe Dibaba, who holds the world record in the 1,500 meters.

The road race starts at 10 a.m. on Main Street in Manchester.

Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.