College Place native Kenneth Rooks wins unlooked for Olympic silver medal in steeple...
The surprises continued Wednesday night as College Place native Kenneth Rooks (photo courtesy BYU Athletics) nearly stole the victory away from heavily favored Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco to earn a silver medal in the 3000 meter steeplechase.
Rooks, who ran a personal best 8:06.41, became the third American to earn a medal of any color in the last 40 years, after Brian Diemer's bronze medal in 1984 in Los Angeles, and Evan Jager in 2016 in Rio.
The two time USA national champion started towards the back of the pack, and was twelfth through the first kilometer in 2:42.8
Just past the five minute mark in the race, Rooks had worked his way into ninth, just behind El Bakkali and reigning Olympic silver medalist, current world leader, and world record holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia.
At the bell, Rooks made a bold move to the front, which surprised the remaining contenders. El Bakkali, Girma and Abraham Kibiwot of Kenya gave chase to Rooks, but Rooks held the advantage coming off the final water jump.
In the backstretch, Girma clipped a barrier, falling head first onto the track. He needed medical attention, after losing consciousness, and was taken to a hospital.
El Bakkali swung to the outside and caught Rooks before the final barrier and pulled away to win in a season best 8:06.05, the fifth fastest time in Olympic history.
Besides Rooks' mark of 8:06.41 being a personal best, it's the seventh fastest in Olympic history. Kibiwot finished third in a season best 8:06.47, the eighth fastest time in Olympic history.
"The goal was to get out and stay relaxed," said Rooks post-race. "If the race went out fast, I was going to be okay being toward the back. I just wanted to conserve as much energy as possible, but stay within striking distance. I was nervous, especially with where I had positioned myself, but we all were really in it as we got later in the race. I just got up in position to make that move at the end."
Former Pullman resident Katie Moon's attempt to become the second woman in history to win two Olympic titles fell short, as she finished second in the women's pole vault to last year's co-world champion Nina Kennedy of Australia.
With a large field of 19 competitors, Moon opened early at 14-5.25 (4.40m), then was clean through the next three bars (4.60/4.70/4.80).
Moon had the advantage over Kennedy going to 15-9 (4.80m), as Kennedy needed two attempts to make the previous height of 15-5 (4.70m).
The tide turned when Kennedy made 15-11 (4.85m) on her first attempt, while Moon needed a second attempt.
Kennedy put more pressure on the defending champion when she made 16-0.75 (4.90m) while Moon missed.
Because of the misses at the last two heights, Moon passed to 16-2.75 (4.95m) and two attempts to take the lead.
She missed both attempts, giving Kennedy the victory.
Washington State alum CJ Allen's bid to make the finals in the 400 hurdles fell short, as he finished fourth in the second semifinal.
Allen finished fourth in the heat in a time of 48.15, as he ran 48.44.
The North Mason HS grad ran strongly through the first seven hurdles, but could not hold on down the stretch to get one of the two qualifying spots to the finals on Friday.
OTHER WEDNESDAY FINALS...
There were two other finals contested Wednesday night at the Stade de France.
In the men's discus, former Clemson and Arkansas standout Roje Stona of Jamaica upset world record holder and current Cal Bear Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, throwing an Olympic record 229-8 (70.00m).
Alekna had the lead early, when he broke the previous record of 229-3 (69.89m) set by his father Virilijus at the 1984 Olympics, when he threw 229-6 (69.97m) in round 2.
Stona took the lead, becoming the first man in Olympic history to throw 70 meters, hitting the mark exactly in round 4.
Matty Denny of Australia was third in 227-4 (69.31m).
American Quincy Hall won the men's 400 in a personal best 43.40, coming from behind to overtake Matthew Hudson-Smith for the win, as the Brit ran a European record 43.44.
Muzzle Samukonga of Zambia was third in a national record 43.74.
WEDNESDAY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS...
Sophie O'Sullivan finished fourth in the first repechage heat in 4:03.73, one spot out of advancing to Thursday's semifinals.
O'Sullivan was a victim of bad luck as she had the fastest fourth place time, and based on time, would have advanced to the semifinals had she was in the second heat.
In Tuesday's first round, the UW rising senior had the fastest time of all non advancing qualifiers when she ran a personal best 4:00.23.
In the 100 hurdles, Washington State grad Maribel Caicedo was in contention for most of the race, but hit hurdle 9 and finished eighth in 13.05
Former Cougar Charisma Taylor, who competed in the triple jump earlier in the meet, finished fourth in heat 3 in 12.78. Taylor was the fastest of the three time qualifiers and avoided running in Thursday's repechage.
In the men's 5000, Washington grad Brian Fay finished 13th in heat 2 in 13:55.35, in a race won in 13:51.59 by Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway.
Brandon Miller of the Brooks Beasts was in good position with less than 200 meters to go, but struggled coming off the turn and finished eighth in his heat of the men's 800 in 1:46.34 in a race won in 1:44.64.
ON THE DOCKET THURSDAY...
No athletes with Washington ties will compete in the evening session on Thursday.
Caicedo goes in the second heat of the repechage round in the 100 hurdles at 1:43 am Pacific/10:43 am Paris time. She'll need to place in the top two to advance to the semifinals and join fellow Cougar Charisma Taylor on Friday.
Louie Hinchliffe is scheduled to run on Great Britain's 4 x 100 meter relay, most likely on the second leg. depending on how their coaching staff sets up their lineup (team composition will be announced before the start of the race at 2:35 am Pacific/11:35 am Paris time).
Brandon Miller goes in the fourth of four heats in the repechage round of the men's 800, where he must win or get one of the two time qualifiers to advance to Friday's semis.
The start lists and results for the Olympic track and field competition is available on the World Athletics microsite, which is available here.
In the United States, streaming is available on the NBCOlympics.com site or Peacocktv.com ($).
Thursday's session will also be shown live on USA Network starting at 1 am Pacific, while the evening session will be broadcast on NBC starting at 10:30 am Pacific, and on KING5 in Seattle (check local listings for times of the NBC network broadcasts).
In Canada, Olympic action will be shown on CBC and streamed on CBC.ca.
NOTE: World Athletics, Athletics Ireland, and the sports information office of Brigham Young University contributed to this report.
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