LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Another Kentucky native is one step closer to the 2024 Olympic podium.
Yared Nuguse qualified for Sunday's 1500-meter semifinals on Friday.
David Woods reported to our sister station WTHR that Nuguse was boxed in along the rail in the first heat. He finally found room and ran his last 200 in 26.6, a spurt allowing him to finish fifth in 3:36.56.
“It was kind of surreal on the line a little bit, just seeing all the Olympic insignia and stuff,” Nuguse said. “Just like, ‘Man, finally here, three years later.’ It’s really, really awesome, and I didn’t want to squander that chance. Luckily, I did not."
“The Olympics really does bring out a lot in every athlete that competes in it.”
According to his college athletics profile at Notre Dame, this isn't his first qualification for the Olympics; he qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 1,500m by placing third in the Olympic Trials his senior year of college.
Nuguse graduated from duPont Manual High School in 2017 and also won the Kentucky Cross Country State Championship.
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