Missouri great Karissa Schweizer qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics
Karissa Schweizer is an Olympian again.
Schweizer, a Missouri cross country and track and field national champion, is headed to her second straight games after placing third in the women’s 5,000-meter finals at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Monday evening in Eugene, Oregon, to solidify her spot on Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Schweizer, who was inducted into the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023 after winning six individual national titles from 2014-18, ran the 5,000 final in 14 minutes, 45.12 seconds to back up her berth to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The time was Schweizer’s season-best, which comes after a trying few years that caused her to withdraw from the World Athletics Championships final in 2022 with a calf injury that required surgery.
“I’ve been down so many times,” Schweizer said on the NBC broadcast after the race, “that I honestly never thought I’d be really, truly back here. This is such a confidence booster for me.”
Karissa Schweizer is BACK 😈
A 14:45.12 3rd-place performance for @KarissaSchweiz4 secures her place in Paris in the Olympic Trials 5000m. Schweizer has battled injuries over the years but she gets it done when it counts.
Also the 2nd-fastest 5K performance of Schweizer’s… pic.twitter.com/3h1CnqLxh0— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) June 25, 2024
Elle St. Pierre and Elise Cranny finished first and second with times of 14:40.34 and 14:40.36, respectively.
Schweizer has the opportunity to qualify at two different distances, as she will compete in the 10,000 finals at 8:09 p.m. Saturday.
She also might be joined in Paris by a fellow former Tiger.
In discus, recent Mizzou grad Kaia Harris reached the discus finals by tossing her second attempt in the first round 188 feet, 5 inches to finish among the top 12. Valarie Allman, who won gold in Tokyo in 2020, recorded the top first-round attempt with a 232-7 throw.
Harris will need to finish among the top three to punch her ticket to Paris. The third-place mark in the first round was set at 206-2, with the finals beginning at 6:50 p.m. Thursday.
Missouri senior Mitch Weber will compete in the men’s discus first round at 8:45 p.m. Thursday and teammates Skylar Ciccolini and Erin Zimmerman will throw in the women’s javelin first round beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.
Former Missouri swimmer Clement Sechhi qualified for France, the host country in the 100 butterfly on Friday.
The 2024 Paris Olympics begin July 26 and run through Aug. 11.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri great Karissa Schweizer qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics
