Olympic triathlon gold medalistis Gwen Jorgensen runs first race since 2018

Gwen Jorgensen ran her first race since 2018 on Friday evening at the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle, Washington. She finished in 15:47.20 for sixth place in the 5,000m.

The last time the 2016 Olympic gold medallist toed the line was in 2018 at the Chicago Marathon. That was the runners first real crack at the 42.2K distance (when it wasn’t within a triathlon or run on a whim). Jorgensen ran a 2:36:23, which for her was a disappointing result.

The runner announced in a YouTube video in December she had decided to try to qualify for the 10,000m and possibly the 5,000m on the track for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, since her extended recovery from heel surgery has temporarily derailed her marathon plans. It was only in the fall of 2019 that Jorgensen was able to resume a full training load.

Jorgensen’s time from Friday is a good start to her season, but still a long way from the Olympic 5,000m standard of 15:10.00. Canadian Regan Yee won Friday’s race in a new indoor personal best of 15:33.17 which is only a second and a half behind her outdoor personal best of 15:31.62. Yee represented Canada in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2019 World Championships.

posted Monday February 17th
by Madeleine Kelly