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Men’s shot put
Shot putter, Ryan Crouser, qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games. In so doing he broke the world record with a 23.37m put on Friday night. The 28-year-old set the record on his fourth attempt.
“To do it at the new Hayward Field, which is somewhere I had track meets when I was younger, it felt really special to be here in front of friends and family, it definitely means a lot,” Crouser told the media.
The other two spots are filled by Joe Kovacs and Payton Otterdahl. Kovacs earned a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with a put of 21.78m. He is a three-time World Championships medallist. The 25-year-old Otterdahl qualified with a new personal best of 21.92m.
Men’s 10,000m
Woody Kincaid representing the Bowerman Track Club (BTC) defeated teammate Grant Fisher to earn his first Olympic birth. He won in the time of 27:53.62 finishing with a furious final kick. Fisher took second in 27:54.29, and Joe Klecker, running for the upstar On Athletics Club, finished in third place in the time of 27:54.90. The 25-year-old set a new personal best in Irvine, CA on May 14 with a finish time of 27:23.44. Kincaid’s personal best was from February this year is 27:12.78 for the 28-year-old first-time Olympian. In that same race, Fisher clocked his lifetime best of 27:11.29.
“It’s just like practice. Usually, he outkicks me, but not today,” Kincaid said.
Women’s 5000m
Abbey Cooper had a big win in round one and advances to the finals on a tough 15:07.80 performance. The Olympic standard is 15:10.00. She ran alone for much of the race. The 29-year-old has run as fast as 15:03.85 back in 2015.
The seven-time NCAA champion was buoyed by the cheers and chants from the fans at Hayward Field. The Eugene crowd remembered Abbey’s fall at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
At the Games, she received international media attention following an incident during a 5000m heat. She became entangled with New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin and both fell. They helped each other finish the race and were allowed to compete in the final. Cooper (nee D’Agostino} suffered a torn ACL and meniscus and was not able to compete further. Both athletes were praised for their Olympic spirit and were subsequently awarded the Rio 2016 Fair Play Award by the International Fair Play Committee.