Though Whittni Morgan’s miracle run to the Olympics ended without a medal, the former BYU star is beaming with gratitude.
“What an opportunity this was to compete at my first Olympics, I’m just so grateful,” Morgan said in a video posted to BYU’s cross country and track social media channels. “I ran my guts out ... and I just have no regrets. Thank you to all BYU nation ... my family, friends and coach (Diljeet) Taylor. I’m feeling extremely blessed.”
Morgan finished 14th in the women’s 5,000-meter final Monday, posting a 14:53.57 time, her new personal best.
The Adidas athlete had the third-fastest time among Team USA participants in the final and was 25 seconds behind Kenyan gold medal winner Beatrice Chebet.
During her collegiate career at BYU, Morgan won the 2021 individual cross country national championship and earned All-American honors on multiple occasions.
Despite her many accomplishments, Morgan’s appearance in Paris was rather miraculous, in part because she underwent knee surgery this past November.
Additionally, she did not originally qualify for this summer’s games but was ultimately invited to join Team USA after two runners who finished ahead of her in June’s Olympic trials chose to drop out of the 5,000-meter race to focus on other events, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“So many miracles played into this to get me here and I really gave it all I had with what I was given,” Morgan said. “I’m walking away with a lot of gratitude, a lot of fire, confidence and joy.”