Slow, painfully slow, Olympic 5,000 meters qualifying rounds claimed both former NAU stars Abdihamid Nur and Luis Grijalva on Wednesday, as Nur fell in the final 100 meters and Grijalva faded in the stretch. Neither qualified, a surprise especially for Grijalva, representing Guatemala, who was fourth in the World Championships.
Dark Sky Distance’s Edwin Kurgat, of Kenya, smartly stayed out of the traffic in the chaotic first heat and qualified easily in a race in which five runners fell — and four were reinstated.
Not so for Nur, who seemed well on his way to finishing in the top eight of the second heat. He was fourth going into the final turn but ran up on Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli and tripped. There were no other runners involved, and Kimeli was not at fault. Thus, Nur was not reinstated for the final.
It was disappointing finish after a solid season for Nur, who jogged in in 14:15.
As for Grijalva, he rehabbed well after a winter sacrum injury but ran 12:50 as late as a month ago and seemed primed to threaten for the podium. In the slow early going, Grijalva stayed near the back with Norway’s Jacob Ingebrigtsen. But in the final mile, Grijalva started moving up to the top six.
But at the bell lap, Grijalva hovered around eighth — the final qualifying spot — but didn’t have a closing kick and never came close to qualifying. He finished 16th in 13:58.81.
There was some good news for other Flagstaff-based runners. Both Bryce Hoppel and Hobbs Kessler advanced in the first round of the 800 meters — an impressive third-place finish for Kessler, coming back from a blazing fast 1,500-meter final the night before.
Kurgat ran a smart race to stay out of the fray in a first heat that went out in an extremely slow 2:30 first 800. Kurgat, who finished third in the Kenyan trials, never strayed farther back than fifth the entire race.
He moved to the outside, wisely, in the final mile and was as high as second with two laps to go. The first heat pileup did not happen until the final turn — though Canada’s Mo Ahmed fell with 400 to go — and by that time Kurgat was free of the pack and cruising. Kurgat was third in the final turn and strided out for a fifth-place finish in 14:08.76.
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