Odds and ends as Olympic qualifying period ends...
Some odds and ends from our return to Seattle from the US Olympic Trials as well as the end of the Olympic qualifying period for the international athletes with Washington ties:
There was a good reason why Nia Akins (Paul Merca photo) of the Brooks Beasts ran 2:12.87 and got ninth, as every runner except her broke two minutes.
Akins, who started the race in lane 3, curiously drifted to the outside as they made the break coming off the first turn. stumbled and fell at roughly the 150 meter mark, essentially taking the Penn graduate out of the race.
Here is video of the race, courtesy of NBC Sports:
HUSKY ALUM AMY-ELOISE MARKOVC ON THE BRITISH OLYMPIC TEAM IN THE 5000...
Washington alum Amy-Eloise Markovc's journey to Tokyo as a member of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team came to a happy ending after her second place finish in the 5000 meters at the British championships in Manchester, England.
Markovc ran 15:10.54 in the British championships on Sunday, .54 over the Olympic Games standard of 15:10.00, which she hit outside Boston at the Tracksmith Platinum PT Qualifying meet on May 29th.
However, she was told by World Athletics officials a few days before the meet that there were questions about the placement of cones on the track, as the high school track in Attleboro, MA., where she hit the standard, running 15:05.96 did not have a rail, meaning that she would have to go under 15:10 AND finish in the top 2 at the British nationals.
In a press release from British Athletics, Markovc, a graduate of Glacier Peak HS in Snohomish, was among the 72 athletes named to the Great Britain Olympic track & field team, as World Athletics was satisfied that the Tracksmith meet met all the technical requirements.
Here's Markovc's Instagram post announcing her selection to the British Olympic team:
CARLEY THOMAS' ATTEMPT TO HIT OLYMPIC STANDARD FALLS SHORT...
On the final day of the Olympic qualifying period, Washington freshman Carley Thomas from Australia traveled to Luzern, Switzerland to take a shot at the Olympic standard of 1:59.50 at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meet Tuesday night.
Thomas, who ran on Australia's world championship team in Doha two years ago, had a season best this spring of 2:05.57 at the Pac-12s, but hadn't competed since the NCAA Division I first round in College Station, Texas.
Thomas, who was out for the 2021 indoor season after an incident last September where she broke her femur in two places in a tubing accident, ran 2:11.36 in a tenth place finish.
Here is video of the race:
Results of the meet are available here.
NOTE: NBC Sports, TrackTown USA, British Athletics, and the Luzern Spitzen Leichtathletik meet contributed to this report.
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