The unlikely story of Matt Wilkinson’s rise from a Division 3 star to a potential Olympian unfolded in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, as the Under Armour Dark Sky Distance rookie finished second in the Olympic Trials in 8:23.
Former BYU star Kenneth Rooks, the defending national champion, repeated with the win at 8:21.92, and current BYU steepler James Corrigan finished third.
None of the three has the Olympic standard of 8:15, but it is highly likely that Wilkinson will get the nod for the Paris Olympics based on his ranking. Currently, he is within the quota, world-wide. Wilkinson came within a second and a half from reaching the standard last month in Los Angeles.
It has been a steady progression for Wilkinson in his debut season for Flagstaff-based Dark Sky. As he blurted into the NBC microphone in a post-race interview, “This is unreal. This whole season is unreal.”
Wilkinson had the fastest qualifying time coming into the race, winning his heat on Friday in wire-to-wire fashion in 8:20.61.
Wilkinson, 25, was a Division 3 standout at Carleton College before becoming a graduate transfer at the University of Minnesota, where he advanced to the NCAA Division 1 nationals in the steeple, making the final in 2022. This is his first year with Dark Sky, where he posted a personal best of 8:16.59 at the Los Angeles Grand Prix in May, finishing second in that race and beating four Americans who advanced to Sunday night’s Trials final.
Just as he did in the qualifying round, Wilkinson went to near the front of the pack early on. He traded leads with Hillary Bor and Rooks and teammate Isaac Updike through the first six laps. With two laps to go, Bor fell at the water jump and, through he tried mightily, could not recover. Wilkinson was safely in front of Bor on that jump.
At the bell, Rooks took off and Wilkinson attempted to keep pace. Rooks’ surges were too much, but Wilkinson showed steady consistentcy and poise and maintained his pace to easily take second.
Updike, his Dark Sky teammate, finished 12th after mixing it up with the leaders (and briefly bumping into Wilkinson) about a mile into the race.
Bor and U.S. Army runner Anthony Rotich were the only runners coming into the race who had met the Olympic standard. Bor ended up 13th and Rotich ninth.
Leave a Reply