Defending champion Clayton Young returns after his sprint to victory in the Hart Bridge descent last March, emerging from a tightly-bunched lead pack. Three former champions are also in action. 'He's really been the premier American distance runner for quite a while,' Alred said.īut this year's Gate River Run doesn't begin and end with Rupp. Race director Doug Alred said Rupp is expected to be arriving in Jacksonville after a training stint in Europe.

He also placed second in last year's Chicago Marathon. Olympic Trials in the marathon in 2020 for the Tokyo Olympics but coming in eighth in the coronavirus-delayed Games in Japan. In recent years, he has focused on the marathon more and the track distances less, winning the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency - he's stayed near the head of the pack. Rupp also earned bronze in the marathon in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, only one week after placing fifth in the 10,000.ĭespite weathering changes off the track - Rupp has spent the last two-plus years training under Arizona-based coach Mike Smith, whom he selected after former coach Alberto Salazar received a four-year suspension from the U.S. He won silver in the men's 10,000 meters at the 2012 Olympics in London behind Great Britain's Mo Farah, becoming the first American to win a medal at that distance since Billy Mills in 1964 in Tokyo. Happy 20th: Runner statues turn 20 in Jacksonville, a symbol of Gate River Run's lasting legacyĬhanges at the finish: New finish line layout, steeper Hart Bridge descent await Gate River Run field Through a decade and a half at the top of American running, Rupp has excelled at distances ranging from the 3,000 meters to the marathon. 'Just the fact that he's here for the first time is pretty exciting,' said elite athlete coordinator Jim Van Cleave. United States Olympian Galen Rupp is scheduled to race the Gate River Run for the first time ever Saturday, heading the elite field for Jacksonville's annual race that doubles as the USA Track and Field 15-kilometer national championship.įew in recent American history can match the running resume of Rupp, a 35-year-old from Portland, Ore., widely regarded as the nation's most successful distance runner of the past decade. This weekend, for the Gate River Run's 45th edition, an American racing giant is heading to the First Coast.

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