PARK CITY, Utah, Aug. 10, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Grant Fisher will be returning to Park City with a matching set of bronze medals.
Fisher, who lives and trains in Park City as part of the Run Elite Program, wrapped up his Olympic experience in Paris with a bronze medal in the 5,000 meters on Saturday.
Fisher, 27, turned in a time of 13 minutes, 15.13 seconds to finish third behind gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway (13:13.66) and silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya (13:15.04).
It was second trip to the podium at the Paris Olympics for the Grand Blanc, Michigan, native and 12-time All-American at Stanford who last week became just the second American man to medal in the 10,000 meters in 60 years.
Fisher also becomes the first man in U.S. history to win a medal in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at an Olympic Games.
“I think Team USA has had a pretty historic meet, especially on the distance side,” he said. “So it feels pretty good to be a part of that, and it feels good to back up my first bronze.”
Saturday’s 5,000-meter final was so close that Fisher wasn’t sure he had reached the podium.
“I didn’t know what place I was in with 100 to go. With 400 to go, I was probably in ninth,” he said. “I don’t know when I moved into third-place position, probably pretty late. Even crossing the line, I wasn’t positive that I’d gotten third, but I got it done.”
The Paris Games were the second Olympic appearance for Fisher, who placed fifth in the 10,000 meters and ninth in the 5,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“People say medals can’t be taken away, and that was one thing I was missing my whole career,” he said. “I’ve gotten records before, and those are really fun and really cool and historic, but eventually those will go away.
“But now Iāve got two medals in one Olympics, and I think patience through my career has paid off well, and now it’s kind of come all at once. So it feels really, really good.”
