new york times

Rachel Apa, a former Division I field hockey player and first-time marathon runner, died Sunday after she collapsed while participating in the New York City Marathon. She was 24.

Apa experienced a “medical incident” during the race, according to marathon organizers New York Road Runners, and a bystander administered CPR until medical staff arrived. Staff continued with CPR and also used a defibrillator in their efforts to revive her. EMS transported Apa to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where doctors tried to save her life for more than six hours, her father, Steve Apa, told the New York Times.

“We are deeply saddened by Rachel’s passing following running in Sunday’s race,” the Road Runners said in a statement. “Our thoughts and sincere sympathies are with her family, friends, and the entire running community.”

According to multiple media outlets, the family was told by doctors that Apa had died of rhabdomyolysis — “a rare condition in which muscle cells break down and release a substance into the blood that can lead to kidney failure,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Marathon runners are listed as people that could be affected by the condition.

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in New York did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this article.

Apa spent four years with the Bucknell University field hockey team before graduating in 2024 with a degree in business administration. She made 42 starts in 63 overall games, compiling 40 points on 17 goals and six assists.

A product manager at TE Connectivity who was pursuing an MBA at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina, Apa decided earlier this year to run the New York City Marathon as part of the Parkinson’s Champions team.

“My grandfather was my role model growing up,” she wrote on the team’s fundraising page. “He taught me to stay active, push my limits, and embrace challenges, shaping my love for sports and movement. Later in life, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and I watched as the disease slowly took away the freedom to move that he once loved so much. He passed away in 2022, but the lessons he taught me continue to drive me forward.”

The fundraiser garnered more than $21,000 in donations, far surpassing Apa’s stated goal of $4,000.

Her father, Steve Apa, told the New York Times she had been training for the marathon for months.

“It’s unfathomable,” he said of his daughter’s death. “Perfect health, perfect shape, 24 years old.”

He told multiple media outlets that his daughter was accompanied to the race by her mother and some friends, while he stayed home in Lewisberry, Pa., and tracked her progress on an app, texting with her along the way.

Several miles into the race, Steve Apa told NBC News, his daughter texted “I feel amazing” and “I’ve never felt this good.”

Soon after, at around the 14-mile mark, Apa’s mother shot a video of her daughter smiling and waving as she ran by.

A few miles later, Steve Apa told the outlets, he started receiving texts from his daughter that said things like “ugh” and “ow.” He stopped hearing from her around mile 20 or 21 but could see on the app that she was still running, until her progress stopped at mile 24.

According to the New York Police Department, police officers assigned to the marathon “observed a 24-year-old female experiencing a medical episode near mile marker 24” at around 1:40 p.m. “EMS responded and transported the female to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition,” NYPD said in an email.

Apa’s mother rushed to the location and was told by an EMS worker that her daughter had been taken away in an ambulance, Steve Apa told NBC News. Michelle Apa received a ride to the hospital in another ambulance.

Apa was declared dead at around 9:40 p.m., Steve Apa told the New York Times.

According to the Road Runners, the last time a New York City Marathon participant suffered a medical incident during the race and later died at a hospital was 2024.

Actor Barbara Barrie, best known for films in which she elevated the role of Mom — including her Oscar-nominated turn in “Breaking Away” (1979) — died Wednesday in her Manhattan home. She was 95.

Barrie’s death was confirmed to the L.A. Times by the actor’s representatives, who said it was medically assisted. Her daughter, Jane Harnick, told the New York Times that her mother’s death followed a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Barrie’s representatives said in a statement to the L.A. Times that the actor was a proponent and advocate of New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, a law that took effect on Aug. 5.

Born Barbara Berman in Chicago in 1931, Barrie and her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she attended Del Mar College. She would later transfer to the University of Texas, where she received multiple awards for drama.

After graduation, she took her acting dreams to the Big Apple, where she made her Broadway debut in the 1955 play “The Wooden Dish.” Throughout her career, Barrie starred in various Broadway productions, among them “The Selling of the President” (1972), “California Suite” (1976) and, most notably, the 1970 musical “Company,” by Stephen Sondheim, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for featured actress in a musical.

Her last Broadway stint was in 2017 in the original role of Helene Berman in the Joshua Harmon play “Significant Other.”

Barrie extended her acting expertise beyond the stage, however, making her first television appearance on “Kraft Television Theater” in 1955. A year later, she made her film debut, albeit uncredited, in the western epic “Giant” while she was in Texas visiting her family.

With more than 120 credits to her name, Barrie began appearing in popular TV shows in the 1950s and ’60s, such as “Naked City,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “The Nurses” and more. Later TV credits included “Barney Miller” and “Suddenly Susan,” where she played an on-screen grandmother to Brooke Shields.

Her first major film role came in 1964, when she played divorcée Julie Cullen Richards in “One Potato, Two Potato.” She portrayed a white woman who falls in love with a Black man, Frank Richards (played by Bernie Hamilton). The film was released during a time when interracial marriage was not yet legalized nationwide. Barrie earned a Cannes Film Festival Award for the performance.

The actor went on to star as the mom Evelyn Stroller in the 1979 coming-of-age comedy-drama “Breaking Away,” which earned her an Academy Award nomination for supporting actress, and later an Emmy nomination when she reprised the role for the 1980 television series.

Other film credits include 1980’s “Private Benjamin,” 1997’s “Hercules” (where she voiced Alcmene, Hercules’ mortal mother) and 1999’s “Judy Berlin.” According to her IMDb profile, her last credit was in 2025 for the queer romantic comedy “Things Like This.”

In 1994, Barrie was diagnosed with rectal cancer, prompting her to raise awareness about the disease. She published two books on the matter, including “Second Act,” a 1997 memoir about resolute optimism and acceptance, and “Don’t Die of Embarrassment: Life After Colostomy and Other Adventures,” a 1999 memoir where she dives deep into her diagnosis and experience with a colostomy procedure.

Barrie married actor, director and producer Jay Harnick in 1964. He died in 2007. The two are survived by their children, Jane and Aaron.