By David Summerfield

I have to start with Dakotah Lindwurm, who I wrote about after her surprising 3rd place finish at the February Olympics qualifying race in Florida. I had a great picture of her utter disbelief at the finish line, when she realized she was going to Paris! A relative unknown, she became the USA’s least known qualifier, but exuded such genuine amazement and thrill at getting onto the Paris Olympics team.

Dakotah knowing she’s on her way to Paris via teamusa.com.

A few words summed up her elation and determination to make us all proud. She wrote three words on her left hand: “Strong, fast, and last.” That needs interpretation! To her, this meant “I am strong,” “I am fast,” and “My speed will last.” I read that her coach had her push a sled on an uphill course, where she acknowledged her body felt like it was parallel to the ground—and she could barely walk the next day. Over time, it made her incredibly strong. Knowing the Olympic marathon course had been judged to be among the most difficult/challenging of all the Olympics, her coach knew she needed strength.

I listened to a podcast after the race, with Runner’s World’s Sarah Lorge Butler (from Aug. 11). It had to do with Dakotah recounting what it was like in the middle of the race. She stayed up with the lead pack, and at one point found herself in the actual lead, which was not her intention! But she definitely ran her own race—staying as even-paced as possible. One issue I had forgotten about while racing in Europe was that the course only had kilometer markers—no mileage markers. And of course her “pace” was using mileage numbers. So, around the mid-race area, a young boy ran onto the course to run along beside her, yelling “Go Dakotah”. She said it was so inspiring—and she put a call out to find this boy, an obvious American, about 10 years old. It lifted her spirits and after the race she put out the call to find him. But that’s when, her boyfriend (named Montana) found her and gave her an engagement ring, and she said “yes”—so finding the 10-year old boy was put on hold!

Dakotah ended up being the 1st American across the finish line, in 12th place. Someone is in definite heaven. When asked why she attended the opening ceremony on the USA river boat on the Seine river, she said that even though most of the long distance runners opted out, trying to reserve their energy (the marathon was 3 weeks away) – she was there with her family, in an airbnb and wanted to “rub elbows” with the more famous Americans and she did mention she wanted to indulge in as many croissants as possible.

Dakotah finishing 12th in Paris. Photo via Kevin Morris @kevmofoto, Citrus Magazine.

And this brings us to the 1500 meter race, which had been billed as a match-up of Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr—who both openly taunted each other leading up to the race. Jakob took the lead early in the race and kept himself in the lead—looking like he was daring everyone else to catch him. This race is usually run more conservatively, with the all-out sprint during the last straightaway. Unfortunately for Jakob, he just plain ran out of steam, and faded in the last 20-30 meters, allowing Josh Kerr to secure the silver medal and while no one saw it coming, an unheralded American, Cole Hocker, snuck up behind everyone, and captured the gold! That’s a race worth looking at! I don’t think Americans are accustomed to winning Olympic gold in these races—the Ethiopians or Kenyans have always scooped up the Olympic medals for these races. So, with Cole in 1st place (3:27:65 – Olympic record), Josh Kerr in 2nd (3:27:79 – British record), then America Yared Nuguse was 3rd (3:27:80 – personal best). A crowded 1-2-3, all within 15/100ths of a second apart. Ingebrigsten was 4th (3:28:24), which was only 59/100ths of a second off 1st place.

Final 10 seconds of Paris 1500m final – see the order of runners….Jakob still in 1st, Kerr in 2nd and closing, Cole sneaking up behind, and Nuguse a distant 4th, who will pass Jakob in a few seconds! Photo via nbcolympics.com/videos/

Then, right after the Paris Olympics, the next big international track meet was held in Lausanne, Switzerland. What? I know that place. Here comes David tooting his horn once again! I was a student at the University of Lausanne (1978-1981) and they had just completed building a world class track right next to Lake Geneva (Lac Leman in French). The public was invited to run on the track – with the latest in artificial, spongy brightly colored surface. We all felt like world class runners. European universities don’t pay for/sponsor athletic teams – that’s for the local clubs to do. But….Switzerland did have an “all-comers” yearly track meet for all Swiss university runners. I entered the 10,000 meter race which was one of the early meets ever held on this track. As I remember it, there were something like a dozen runners. I took 1st place in (around) 34:04 as my memory tells me. It was a “non-event” – no publicity, no mention in any publication—just great memories. We students had organized our own “club”—we ran together twice a week – usually about 2-3 of us. Pretty low-key, right?

Anyway, back to the just invented Ingebrigsten/Hocker rivalry…since Cole had run down Jakob the week before, it was time for Jakob to get his “revenge,” something the press loves to tout. So, Jakob had his “redemption” and beat Cole in Lausanne. This time he ran a 3:27:83 (to Cole’s 3:29) to rack-up points in what’s called the “Diamond League” after the Olympics. Each weekend, track types travel around Europe to get points, and then the “final” is in Brussels in September. The next week in Selisia, Poland, Jakob did set a new world record in the 3000 meter – a “non-Olympian” distance, but he did break Daniel Komen’s WR set in 1996 – the longest standing running record. Jakob ran a 7:17.55, 3 seconds faster than Daniel.

So, that’s about it for my Olympics wrap-up. I trust many of you were able to follow your favorite events. Now, back to training for the Colter Run, and all that the Bozeman area has to offer—non-Olympic type!