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Hopes of Kenyan-born American marathoners featuring at the Paris Olympics for the United States went up in smoke as they were all shown dust at the US Trials last weekend
Kenyan-born runners who switched allegiance to the United States of America had a rough weekend when they all missed a spot in the US marathon team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
At the US Olympics marathon trials in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, Betsy Saina, Caroline Rotich, Leonard Korir, Elkanah Kibet, and Paul Chelimo, all born in Kenya but now representing the US, had high hopes of making the team to Paris.
However, things did not go according to plan as Saina failed to finish the women’s race while Rotich could only manage a sixth-place finish in a time of 2:26:10 with Fiona O'Keeffe (2:22:10), Emily Sisson (2:22:42) and Dakotah Lindwurm (2:25:31) taking the top three positions and clinching their tickets to Paris.
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06:04 - 12.01.2024
ATHLETICS Kenyan-born American Betsy Saina explains what it will mean to represent USA at Paris Olympics
Kenyan-born American marathoner Betsy Saina has revealed what is motivating her to represent USA at the Paris Olympics after ditching her motherland in 2021.
It was a disappointing outing for Saina, who switched allegiance from Kenya to the US in 2021, having represented her country of birth in 10,000m at the 2016 Rio Olympics before later moving to the marathon.
The 35-year-old had even been training in Kenya ahead of the trials with high hopes that she would make the team to the Olympics.
“I'm so grateful to be able to represent the U.S., after all I've gained in living there: to my two sisters living there, my son being born in the U.S. – it's a family thing for me. So, I'm running for the whole family now,” she told CITIUS Magazine ahead of the trials.
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09:00 - 05.02.2024
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It was the same story for Rotich, who changed citizenship in October last year, just in time for the trials, having represented Kenya at the 2011 World Championships.
Meanwhile, in the men’s race, Chelimo suffered the same fate as Saina as he dropped out of the race after 18 miles.
In what was his marathon debut, Chelimo who has been a US Citizen since 2014, had hoped to test his mettle in the 42km race after winning silver and bronze for the USA in 5,000m at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics but found the going tough.
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11:32 - 04.02.2024
ATHLETICS Sprint legend Michael Johnson impressed by American marathoner's performance in Olympic trials
Michael Johnson commends Sara Hall's inspiring fifth-place finish and resilience at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.
It was, however, a heartbreaking day for Korir and Kibet who came so close, having finished third and fourth in 2:09:57 and 2:10:02 respectively behind Conner Mantz (2:09:05) and Clayton Young (2:09:06) who managed first and second to take the two automatic tickets to Paris.
Korir, 37, who missed a ticket to the delayed 2020 Games by just three seconds, looked destined for another near-miss but did just enough to secure a podium finish.
However, with only two men guaranteed an Olympic spot at the trials, he will be keeping his fingers crossed that he is among those on the plane to Paris if his country meets certain criteria by May 5.
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