Kenneth Rooks shocked the world in August by winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
His second-place finish in the men’s steeplechase thrust him into an international spotlight, boosting his social media following and his professional running career.
But if you check in with Rooks today, his day-to-day life doesn’t look that much different than it did before he found Olympic fame.
He lives in the Provo area with his wife, Taylor, and trains with BYU’s director of track and field, Ed Eyestone, and current BYU runners, including James Corrigan, who competed alongside Rooks in Paris.
He’s taking classes on campus and plans to graduate in April with an engineering degree.
If you press Rooks on what’s changed since the Olympics, he won’t mention new sponsorship opportunities or a higher earning potential.
Instead, he’ll say what’s changed is that you wanted to ask.
“I get to talk to a lot more people now. More people like to hear my story because they’ve been inspired,” he told the Deseret News, while supporting BYU at the NCAA cross-country championships in Wisconsin on Nov. 23.
Kenneth Rooks’ BYU career
Before Rooks was a silver medalist, he was a BYU runner struggling to make the school’s travel squad. During the 2018-19 school year, he chose to focus on the steeplechase in hopes that it would improve his stock.
Rooks showed a lot of promise in his first few meets, but then took two years off to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When he was back on campus in 2021, he picked up right where he’d left off.
Rooks finished sixth in the steeplechase at the 2022 NCAA outdoor track and field championships and then first a year later. 2023 was also when he famously fell during the U.S. Track and Field Championships — and then got back up and won.
That fall — and the surge of attention that came in its wake — is probably why Rooks sounds so nonchalant when talking about winning an Olympic silver medal. His life changed dramatically after that unbelievable 2023 race, and there wasn’t much left for Paris to disrupt.
Rooks remained a BYU runner for the fall 2023 cross-country season — to this day, he loves NCAA cross-country and says it’s “like no other running sport in the world” — and then turned pro.
He entered 2024 with his eyes set on the Olympics.
James Corrigan’s BYU career
As Rooks embarked on a professional running career, Corrigan’s time at BYU was just beginning.
They ran together during last year’s cross-country season, finishing 35th and 32nd, respectively, at the 2023 NCAA cross-country championships in a field of 254 runners. They then continued training together under Eyestone, who was working to get Corrigan up to speed on the steeplechase.
By early 2024, Corrigan was all in on the event, and he had the results to prove it.
He won the steeplechase at the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships in May and qualified to compete alongside Rooks at June’s U.S. Olympic track and field trials.
Rooks was expected to do well, and he did, finishing first and beating the runner-up by more than a second.
Corrigan was the wild card, and he came out of nowhere to pass five runners during the race’s final lap and finish third.
Corrigan’s shocking performance at the Olympic trials opened the door for him to join Rooks on Team USA, but he couldn’t run through that door without improving his steeplechase time in an official meet.
Eyestone helped set one up in less than a week, and Corrigan did his part by miraculously shaving more than seven seconds off his personal best and beating the Olympic standard.
“When I saw the time, my mind was swirling,” Corrigan told the Deseret News this summer. “I was trying to take in the implications of what just happened. I took pictures with everyone and soaked it up. It was just a great experience, to see how happy people were to be part of it. I just felt gratitude. It floored me how many people cared and made sacrifices.”
BYU runners at the Olympics
Corrigan’s Olympic journey ended in the opening round of the men’s steeplechase competition. He finished 10th in his heat, and only the top five advanced to the final.
But before and during his race, commentators heaped praise on the young runner, trying to explain his remarkably fast path from getting started with steeplechase to the Paris Olympics.
“This is such an incredible story. I really can’t get over it,” one commentator said about Corrigan.
Rooks finished second in his own opening round heat, securing a spot in the final.
During the final on Aug. 7, he earned some major praise of his own as he went from the back of the pack at the midway point to take the lead during the final lap.
Rooks was passed by reigning gold medalist Soufiane El Bakkali on the home stretch and ended up with the silver medal, but it felt “amazing” to him and to many of us watching at home.
“After the race, I was like, what the heck just happened? That was amazing. Incredible. I was just trying to take it all in,” he told the Deseret News that day.
Life after the Olympics
After the Olympics, Corrigan and Rooks both took some time off. In Rooks’ case, it wasn’t an option to keep training — he had to heal a shoulder injury he suffered at a post-Paris competition in Poland.
But by October, both men were pretty much back in the saddle. Corrigan was competing with BYU’s men’s cross-country team, and Rooks trained with the same team while offering Corrigan and others support.
“Cross-country is so fun and so exciting. We’ve had conversations, and it was clear that James didn’t want to miss out on this,” Rooks said during the NCAA cross-country championships.
Rooks was at the meet to offer encouragement from the sidelines as Corrigan and six other BYU runners chased a national title. They ultimately won — as did the BYU women — but Corrigan finished sixth among the BYU men and 62nd overall.
After the race, Corrigan told the Deseret News he was experiencing a “mixed bag of emotions.” He’d hoped to do better individually, but he was thrilled with the team result.
When asked to compare the Olympics to the NCAA championships, he said both were “amazing” but felt very different as they played out.
“(Paris) was very individual and today was all about the team win,” Corrigan said.
Since returning home from the Olympics, Corrigan has worked to make the most of his higher profile by doing interviews and social media posts about his sport and his faith. On Instagram, he does “Sunday night live” conversations, chatting casually about his life with friends and strangers alike.
Corrigan said he’s been plotting those kinds of videos since before he made it to the Olympics.
“It’s always been a goal,” he said. “I knew that the better you are, the more people pay attention. I knew I could take advantage of that and share things that are important to me.”
Now, both Corrigan and Rooks will turn their attention to the indoor track season. Rooks said he’s “in a building phase right now,” focused on boosting his fitness.
Both men are very positive about their home base at BYU and thankful for chances to grow their faith as they chase their goals on the track.
“I’m always trying to get better, and I’m always trying to work hard and deal with life’s challenges and trying to balance everything. I think my faith affects me every day,” Rooks said.