2012 London Olympics: Rupp Advances to 5000m Final

What may have helped Galen Rupp advance to the semifinals was his tough heat that pushed him to finish in the top 10.

The American had a final time of 13:17.56 minutes in the 5000-meter run, not good enough for one of the top-five qualifying places in his heat but was sixth-place overall and that was enough to get him into the final round. It was an uneven division in the standings between both heats; the first heat’s highest time was 13:25.23 minutes by Azerbaijan’s Hayle Ibrahimov. 10 runners from the second heat all finished higher than that, all receiving the nod into the medal round.

Two other former Oregon Ducks athletes weren’t able to move on in their events. First, Cyrus Hostetler finished just 17th in the first group and 32nd overall with a 248.56-foot throw in the men’s javelin qualifying round. 12 of the competitors will move on the final round; the highest mark was an astonishing 289.83 feet by Czech Republic’s Vitezslav Vesely, his personal best. No Americans made it into the medal round.

Australia’s Zoe Buckman also ends her run in the women’s 1500-meter semifinals. After qualifying on time in the first round, she finishes a few seconds better with her personal best of 4:05.03 minutes. Unfortunately, it wasn’ t enough to be one of the 13 finalists due to the strength of her heat. Two of the three Americans who moved on to the medal round – Morgan Uceny and Shannon Rowbury – had higher times than Buckman.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Autzen Zoo, follow the site on Facebook and Twitter. Read his other work on the Iowa State blog, Clones Confidential, and Watson Talk Lacrosse.