Three Utah natives will be competing for spots on the United States’ Olympic women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase team during the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Thursday night.
What are the odds one of them will be representing America at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics?
Who’s representing Utah in the 3,000 steeplechase final
The first round of the women’s 3,000 steeplechase took place on Sunday. All three Utah runners competing in the final of the event Thursday night have competed at both the high school and college level in-state:
- Grayson Murphy, a West High grad who ran collegiately at Utah, won her heat in the 3,000 steeplechase first round to advance to the final. Her time of 9:25.37, a personal best, was the third-best time of the day.
- Courtney Wayment, who prepped at Davis High and won two NCAA championships for BYU this year, advanced to the final by finishing second behind Murphy in their heat. Her time of 9:27.17 was more than three seconds faster than her previous personal best.
- Summer Allen, who’s run at both Orem High and Weber State, qualified for the final with a time of 9:38.61, 14th fastest in the first round.
What the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase field looks like
The top two favorites to make the U.S. women’s 3,000 steeplechase team include 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn, who’s currently No. 2 in the world in the event, and Courtney Frerichs, the American record-holder in the event who also competed in the 2016 Olympics, finishing 11th.
Colleen Quigley, the other member of the U.S. Olympic women’s steeplechase team in 2016, withdrew from the Olympic trials earlier this week, saying in part on Instagram, “This is not a decision I take lightly and I am absolutely heartbroken knowing that I won’t have the opportunity to compete on behalf (of) Team USA.”
The top three finishers in Thursday’s final will represent the U.S. in the Olympics, with a caveat: if one of them lacks an Olympic qualifying standard time — it’s 9:30.00 in the steeplechase — they will be replaced by the next fastest athlete with a qualifying time. Of the 14 runners in Thursday’s final, eight already own Olympic qualifying standard times, including Murphy and Wayment.
So, who’s the best remaining runners in the field?
With Quigley out, that leaves the opportunity for someone to capture that last Olympic spot, assuming that both Coburn and Frerichs will again qualify.
Leah Falland, who finished second behind Coburn in the second heat Sunday, owns a personal best time of 9:18.85, several seconds faster than the rest of the field. Beyond her, though, both Murphy and Wayment sit in a cluster of runners who could earn that third spot.
With her performance Sunday, Murphy has the fourth-best personal best among those competing in the 3,000 steeplechase final, while Wayment has the sixth. In Sunday’s first round, both finished just ahead of Frerichs in their heat.
How will the runners deal with an ‘unprecedented’ heat wave?
A heat wave of historic proportions is headed toward the Pacific Northwest this weekend — The Washington Post reported the National Weather Service is using the word “unprecedented” to describe the extreme conditions — which would impact the U.S. trials being held on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon.
The main brunt of the heat wave is expected to hit later in the weekend, and the National Weather Service said several Northwest states, including Oregon, could experience the highest recorded temperatures on record for the month of June.
The women’s 3,000 steeplechase will be the final race of the day Thursday — it is scheduled for 8:47 p.m. local time, 9:47 p.m. MDT — helping the runners avoid some of the higher temperatures from earlier in the day. Still, weather.com projects temperatures of 77 degrees in Eugene with light winds near the 9 o’clock hour.
How to watch the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials
Thursday’s Olympic trials will be televised on NBC Sports Network, beginning at 7 p.m. MDT and running until 10 p.m.