Top-8 Rio Olympic finishers who have competed at the Dempsey...

Just for kicks and giggles, paulmerca.blogspot.com compiled a list of athletes who finished in the top 8 at the recently concluded Rio Olympics that have competed at the Dempsey Indoor.

The list is headed by two-time Olympic decathlon champion Ashton Eaton (above/photo by Paul Merca), women’s pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi, men’s shot put champ Ryan Crouser, and men’s 1500 meter winner Matthew Centrowitz.

Three of the four—Eaton, Stefanidi, and Centrowitz—have competed at the MPSF championships at the Dempsey for their schools (Stefanidi at Stanford; Eaton & Centrowitz for Oregon) while Crouser, an Oregon native, threw at the Dempsey as a high schooler, and as a collegian at the University of Texas.

Please note that athletes who competed on relays at the Olympics are not included, until I can verify names from the results.  Athletes off the top of my head who have competed at the Dempsey who were on top-8 relays include English Gardner (USA), Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, and Sage Watson (Canada). 

The point of this list is to demonstrate that the Dempsey is one of the best indoor track and field facilities in the country and that it offers great competition for those who aspire to run, jump, and throw at the highest levels of the sport.

It’s not too early to think about attending a meet in 2017 at the Dempsey—the first meet of the 2017 indoor season is projected for January 14th!

Here’s the list:

MEN
10000—Galen Rupp, USA (5th)
100—Andre De Grasse, Canada (3rd)
Triple Jump—Will Claye, USA (2nd)
110 Hurdles—Devon Allen, USA (5th); Johnathan Cabral, Canada (6th)
Steeple—Evan Jager, USA (2nd); Donn Cabral, USA (8th)
Shot Put—Ryan Crouser, USA (1st), Joe Kovacs, USA (2nd)
200—Andre De Grasse, Canada (2nd)
Decathlon—Ashton Eaton, USA (1st)
1500—Matthew Centrowitz, USA (1st), Ben Blankenship, USA (8th)
5000—Paul Chelimo, USA (2nd), Mo Ahmed, Canada (4th)
Marathon—Galen Rupp, USA (3rd), Jared Ward, USA (6th)

WOMEN
10000—Betsy Saina, Kenya (5th)
100—English Gardner, USA (7th)
Heptathlon—Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Canada (3rd)
Marathon—Shalane Flanagan, USA (6th); Des Linden, USA (7th)
Steeple—Emma Coburn, USA (3rd)
400—Phyllis Francis, USA (5th)
1500—Jenny Simpson, USA (3rd); Shannon Rowbury, USA (4th)
Long Jump—Brittney Reese, USA (2nd)
200—Deajah Stevens, USA (7th) 
100 Hurdles—Nia Ali, USA (2nd)
400 Hurdles—Dalilah Muhammad, USA (1st)
Pole Vault—Katerina Stefanidi, Greece (1st)
5000—Susan Kuijken, Netherlands (8th) 
800—Kate Grace, USA (8th)

As always, I'll be happy to take any corrections, omissions, etc.  Please note that the University of Washington's Dempsey Indoor results database is currently down, as it transitions to a new web service provider.

ADDITION #1:  Thanks to sharp eyed coach Linh Nguyen from the University of Toledo, he noted that Paul Chelimo has run at the Dempsey!  Who is Paul Chelimo?  Just the Olympic silver medalist at 5000 meters! Chelimo was 32nd in the 3000 at the 2013 Husky Classic while at UNC/Greensboro, running 8:06.71.

EFRAIMSON NINTH IN LAUSANNE DIAMOND LEAGUE

Camas native Alexa Efraimson (left, #212/photo by Paul Merca) finished ninth in the women’s 3000 at the Athletiissima meeting Thursday night, the eleventh stop of the IAAF’s Diamond League tour, and the first since the Olympic break.

Efraimson ran a personal best of 9:11.48, as Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, the silver medalist in the 1500 at the Rio Olympics, took the victory in a meet record 8:31.34.

Hellen Obiri of Kenya, the silver medalist in the 5000 in Rio, was second in 8:33.96, followed by Mercy Cherono from Kenya in 8:34.49.

The IAAF Diamond League tour moves on to Paris Saturday for the Meeting de Paris.  No athletes with Washington ties are entered in the meet.

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