Another Durangoan will compete for a chance to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games this week.
Laura Thweatt, a 2007 Durango High School graduate, will compete in the USA Track & Field Olympic Team Trials at 12:04 p.m. Saturday in Eugene, Oregon. She will compete in the 10,000-meter run against 24 other competitors. No heats will be held, only the final Saturday.
This is Thweatt’s first Olympic Trials appearance.
“The last four years, this has been the goal,” Thweatt said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Everything we’ve done in some way has been preparation for the Olympic Track Trials. The last eight months, everything under my belt has been preparing for this race, but really everything the last four years. I’m confident, and there’s nothing I would’ve done different or changed in the buildup.”
The top-three finishers will qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which will begin in August. An Olympic qualifying time in the 10K is 32 minutes, 25 seconds for women. The top-three finishers must run that time or have already finished a qualifying race in that time, otherwise the next fastest runner outside the top three who has run 32:25 or better will be selected for the Olympics.
Thweatt has already run a mark of 31:52.94, so a top-three finish Saturday will guarantee her place. Seven other runners have run a time faster than Thweatt this year, including Marielle Hall’s 31:37.45, Emily Sisson’s 31:38.03 and Emily Infeld’s 31:38.71. Infeld took third at the world championships in the 10K.
Thweatt said Golden’s Alisha Williams, who ran at Western State Colorado University, also will present a challenge along with Molly Huddle, a Saucony teammate, and Kim Connely, who was an Olympian in the 5K distance in 2012.
“There are plenty of women to give me a run for my money,” Thweatt said. “Everyone has earned their way.”
The winner of each event at the Olympic Trials will earn $10,000, second place will receive $8,000, and $6,000 will go to third. Even those who don’t qualify for the Olympics can earn a payout. $4,000 will go to fourth place, $2,000 to fifth and $1,000 to both sixth and seventh places.
Thweatt, 27, returned to the track after a foot and knee injury. During her rehabilitation process, she decided to run the New York Marathon and finished seventh overall and was the top-American woman.
The daughter of Jean and Steve Thweatt now lives in Boulder after competing for the University of Colorado. She is coached by Lee Troop at the Boulder Track Club. She is sponsored by Saucony.
The women’s 10K will be broadcast on NBC and can be streamed online.
“I’m healthy and excited to finally be on that start line,” Thweatt said. “I’m going to put everything out there and hope it comes together on that day for me. It will be an honor to be standing among the best of the best in the country.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
