The 2024 Olympic Track & Field Trials are over, and while I never get to watch as much as I’d like, a number of people with local connections were competing, and several of them marked their tickets for the Olympics in Paris. Full results are here.
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Rudy Winkler placed second in the hammer throw to make his third Olympics team in a row. He graduated from Cornell in 2017, and shared an apartment with Kristina Kronauer (@kristina-kronauer) and other distance runner friends from the time, who invited him out to help my parents move a 200-pound pumpkin (he’s third from left, behind Tonya).
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Michelle Rohl, who broke the W55 American record for the indoor mile while winning the Hartshorne Masters Mile in 2023, qualified for Team USA by placing third in the 20K race walk. At age 58! If she gets to go to Paris, it will be her fourth appearance at the Olympics (1992, 1996, and 2000), but since no Americans met the Olympic time standard, none may be on the starting line.
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Erin Taylor-Talcott (@oboebassoon), who lives in Greene, NY now and competes regularly in the racewalk in FLRC track meets, dropped out of the 20K racewalk after 2000m. Hopefully, she can share stories from the race.
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Taylor Knibb, Cornell class of 2020, will be competing in her second Olympics in the triathlon.
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Shane Cohen, Patrick Boyle’s cousin (@pjboyle26) won the NCAA Division 1 800m championship a few weeks ago and made it to the finals in the Trials 800m, running a PR and Olympic standard 1:44.65 to take 6th overall.
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Keira D’Amato, Casey Carlstrom’s (@casey) niece, took 10th in the 10000m.
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Jenn Randall, an Ithaca College alum and niece of local marathoner Joey Randall (@joeknowssoccer) made it to the semi-finals in the 1500m and finished 19th overall. She also competed in the 5000m, finishing 25th.
I’m sure there are more athletes with local connections who will be competing in other sports, like Lansing native and Cornell alum Kyle Dake in wrestling, and probably some rowers, but I’m out of my element there.
Any other Olympic athletes with local connections you know about?