Gwen Jorgensen, the Olympic gold medalist from the 2016 Games in Rio, turned her sights to running in 2017 after having her son, Stanley. The goal was to win a gold medal in the marathon in Tokyo. That plan got sidetracked when an extended recovery after surgery forced her to pass on the US Olympic marathon trials last year. Jorgensen didn’t give up on her Olympic running dreams, though, deciding to compete on the track and focusing on the 5,000 and 10,000 m events. It was a return to her athletic roots – before being recruited to the sport by USA Triatlhon in 2009, Jorgensen had competed on the University of Wisconsin’s track, cross-country and swim teams. Within just a few years she had proven to be quite a triathlete, representing the US at the Games in London in 2012, where she finished 38th.
Yesterday Jorgensen competed in the final of the women’s 5,000 m, finishing ninth in 15:50.62. Two of her Bowerman Track Club teammates, Elise Cranny (15:27.81) and Karissa Schweizer (15:28.11), ended up first and second in the race.
Jorgensen’s classy Instagram post after the race celebrating her teammates incredible performance even got a comment from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – “Celebrating others as well as yourself is the mark of a true Olympic champion.”
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Jorgensen has also qualified for the 10,000 m race at the Olympic Trials and will compete in that race on Saturday night. She’ll have to improve her PB by 30 seconds (she’s run 31:55 and the Olympic standard is 31:25) and will have to finish in the top three to earn a make it to a third Olympics.
