Sanford native and 2021 Olympian Rachel Smith dropped out of the women’s 10,000-meter final Saturday with seven laps remaining at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, ending her last chance to go to her second straight Olympics.
Smith ran near the front of the pack through the first half of the race but started to lose positions when the pace increased in the second half. She was in ninth place through 18 of 25 laps before she stopped.
Even if Smith had finished in the top three, she would have been short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 30 minutes, 40 seconds, and it’s unlikely that her world ranking would have been good enough to receive an Olympic berth. Smith took time off in 2022 and 2023 for the birth of her daughter, Nova.
Weini Kelati, the only U.S. woman who has the qualifying standard, outsprinted Parker Valby and Karissa Schweizer to win the race with a time of 31:41.07. Valby and Schweizer both finished in 31:41:56 and are expected to make the Olympic team based on their world ranking.
Smith represented the U.S. in the 5,000 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She attempted to qualify in that event again, but finished ninth in the final on Monday.
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