Galen Rupp leads, 800m to go, Woody Kincaid, Grant Fisher, Joe Klecker, June 18, 2021, photo by Kevin Morris/Kevmofoto
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This piece, on Galen Rupp’s 10,000m, was done by Bryan Sutton.
About his affinity to athletics, Bryan Sutton notes:
“If I’m not watching sports, you can find me playing with my dog. I love to watch the long races, seeing the strategy but the 400 meters will always be my favorite.”
Galen Rupp finishes sixth in Men’s 10,000m,
By Bryan Sutton
SOJC Track Bureau for RunBlogRun
Having already secured a spot on his fourth Olympic team by winning the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials back in February 2020, Galen Rupp finished sixth in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Trials on Friday night with a time of 27:59.43.
Rupp had failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials on time as his season-best coming in was 28:00.37 and the qualifying standard was 28 flat. This meant Rupp had to be granted an exemption to compete in what was only his second race of 2021.
Galen Rupp, after his 10,000m at Portland Track Festival, May 28, 2021, photo by How Lao Photography
“I was really looking to come in here and get back to racing, get back to competing,” Rupp said. “I’ve said all along, in Tokyo my focus is the marathon, and that’s never changed.”
Rupp hung with the leaders for most of the race before the leaders opened a slight lead over the last 800 meters. He said he felt good coming into the race and was encouraged by how relaxed he felt with the pace of the race.
A contented Galen Rupp, the happy warrior, 6th in 10,000m, photo by Kevin Morris/Kevmofoto
“It was great,” Rupp said. “Definitely a little weird to be back with such a tight group. A bit of a re-learning curve, but I loved every second of it.”
Rupp has only raced a couple of times over the past couple of years. He was forced to pull out of the 2018 Chicago Marathon due to an injury and ended up having surgery to fix a damaged Achilles in his left leg. A year later, he pulled out of the Chicago Marathon once again, this time due to a calf strain.
After that marathon, Rupp began to work with a new coach, Mike Smith, after Alberto Salazar received a four-year doping ban and the Nike Oregon Project was disbanded.
Under Smith’s guidance, Rupp won the Sprouts Mesa half marathon in early February right before he would go on to win his second straight Olympic Marathon Trials later that month. That win made Rupp only the second man to ever win back-to-back U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon.
“It’s been a really long road,” Rupp said. “The doctors all told me it would be a long slog back. Things are really starting to come around again. I’m really starting to feel like my old self.”
Rupp will be going to Tokyo as a four-time Olympian and attempting to do something that no American has done in 49 years. He will attempt to win gold in the marathon for the first time since Frank Shorter at Munich in 1972.
“We are trying to use this race as a big springboard for this next big block of training,” he said. “This is going to be the last big final push until the marathon, so I’m ready to get to work and be firing on all cylinders come Tokyo.”
