Bellingham's Jake Riley puts himself on Olympic marathon team with late charge...
Riley, who finished ninth at the Chicago Marathon in October in 2:10:36, ran 2:10:02 to claim the second spot behind Oregon alum Galen Rupp, who won his second straight Olympic marathon trials race in a time of 2:09:20.
Rupp took command of the race just before the start of the third eight-mile loop.
Rupp’s decisive move signalled the start of the race for Tokyo, and 43-year-old Abdi Abdirahman was right by Rupp’s side. Augustus Maiyo was also up front and took over the lead briefly and Matt McDonald (Atlanta, Georgia) was tucked in behind that trio next to Leonard Korir.
Rupp led through 20 miles in 1:38:51, three seconds up on Maiyo and Princeton grad McDonald. Abdirahman was seven seconds behind, and Korir was 14 back. Rupp continued to pull away, stretching his lead over Maiyo to 17 seconds by mile 21, with Abdirahman third and McDonald fourth. Cranking out a 4:44 mile followed by a 4:50, Rupp hit 23 miles in 1:53:15, 42 seconds up on Abdirahman, Maiyo and Korir.
Meanwhile, Riley was 13th at the half-marathon mark, crossing in 1:05:41, part of a pack of 25.
At the 16 mile mark, Riley moved up one spot, but was down 21 seconds on Rupp. Between miles 19 and 20, Riley moved up four spots from tenth to sixth, then another spot up to fifth at the 23 mile mark.
Between miles 24 and 25, he moved three spots to second, running a 4:57 mile to pass Maiyo, Korir and the veteran Abdirahman.
A 5:00 final mile all but assured him a spot on the Olympic team, with the question of what place he'd end up, as Abdirahman was still in striking distance.
At the finish, Riley crossed the line in 2:10:02, one second up on Abdirahman, with Korir taking fourth in 2:10:06.
Riley came to Atlanta without the benefit of a shoe sponsor, after leaving the Hansons/Brooks Distance Project and moving to Colorado, where he had surgery to correct an Achilles tendon. During the recovery time, he found himself questioning whether or not to continue pursuing the sport at the professional level.
In talking afterwards about the race, Riley said, “I think the conservative plan is what a lot of guys had going into the day.”
“Then that big gap opens up and it’s a very scary decision to let that distance open because you know you’re going to have to close it running into a headwind in a very hilly race. Going into that final bit one of the things I was telling myself is there are no more next times. This is a good chance it’s going to be your best shot to ever make a team, so when I made that move it was no looking back.”
All three men’s finishers wore carbon-fiber plated shoes made by Nike, which has been a huge controversy in the sport over the past few years due to the spring-like effect it offers runners. Abdirahman wore the VaporFly, while both Rupp and Riley sported the new AlphyFly shoe, which Nike offered for free this week to all 671 starters in the race as it debuted for public purchase on Saturday.
Other athletes with Washington affiliations who finished in the top 50 in the men's race included Washington State alum Bernard Lagat in 18th in 2:14:23; Washington alum Mike Sayenko in 32nd in 2:16:47, and former Eastern Washington standout Kyle King in 47th at 2:18:20.
In the women's race, Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan finished 12th in 2:32:05, two spots ahead of Tacoma's Kate Landau, who ran 2:34:07.
Hockinson native Georgia Porter was the only other Washington athlete that finished in the top 50, taking 28th in 2:38:07.
Aliphine Tuliamuk won the women's trials race in a time of 2:27:23, with Molly Seidel second eight seconds behind.
Sally Kipyego, who won an Olympic medal as a Kenyan citizen in the 10000 in 2012, took the third spot in 2:28:52, 11 seconds ahead of 2016 Olympic team members Des Linden (2:29:03).
Complete results of the US Olympic Team Trials-Marathon are available here.
NOTE: The media relations office of USA Track & Field and the Atlanta Track Club contributed to this report.
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