Overall it was a pretty successful weekend for current and former Badgers as the U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials got underway. The weekend featured former Badger Matt Tegenkamp earning his second straight trip to the Olympic games as he finished 2nd in the 10,000 meters on Friday, the opening night of the trials.
Hear him in his own words after earning his birth right here:
Tegenkamp ran the 5000 meters for the USA in the 2008 Beijing games and stepped up the distance just four year later, running for Oregon Club Elite.
It was an underdog performance to say the least as he wasn’t one of the favorites in the event, yet he joined winner Galen Rupp (also of Oregon Club Elite) in breaking the previous trials record. Tagenkamp ran 27:33.94 to place second, finishing 8 seconds behind Rupp, but 3 seconds ahead of 3rd place finisher Dathan Ritzenhein.
The Badgers could end up with two runners in the 10,000 meters at the Olympics should Mohammed Ahmed make the Canadian team during his run on Wednesday.
Over the weekend the Decathlon was also contested and it was a sight to see if you had the chance to watch, as two Badgers competed in the event that saw winner Ashton Eaton break the World Record in the event scoring 9,039 points to take the win. Former Badger and 2007 NCAA Outdoor Decathlon champion, Joe Detmer finished just out of a spot in 4th with 7,931 points. In David Grzesiak’s first attempt at a U.S. National Championship the senior finished 13th (4th amongst collegiate participants) with 7,009 points.
The vast majority of Badgers competing at the trials will see competition heating up this week as finals go off in most events over this coming weekend. We’ll be here to cover it all, so check back here and follow us on Twitter as we update when information breaks all week long.
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