Saint-Denis, France • It was a frantic push. A display of heart befitting Olympic glory. Grant Fisher, over the back stretch of the 25th lap Friday in the men’s 10,000-meter final, ran the kick of his life. From fifth place on the final turn to second place in the final 10 meters.
It got him a season-best time of 26:43.46. It almost got him a silver medal.
A just-as-impressive late surge by Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi bested Fisher, who lives and trains in Park City, by two-hundredths of a second. The 27-year-old from Stanford, who refused to let the race get away from him, met the limits of his willpower as he crossed the finish line.
“I came off the corner and I had pretty good momentum going with a hundred to go,” Fisher said. “I tired up just, like, a little bit with like 10 meters to go and lost that silver position. … Maybe I paid for it a little bit for that in those last 10 meters by going hard with 300 to go, 200 to go. But I think I needed to do that to maintain position.”
No shame in this bronze. And Fisher is being rightfully showered for his performance. The crowd at the packed and loud Stade de France, and the millions watching from their homes, were treated to an epic nightcap. A 10k race for the ages, largely because of Fisher’s mettle.
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda smashed the Olympic record, clocking 26:43.14. But Fisher was right there with the best in the world. Emptying his tank.
He becomes the fourth U.S. man in history to medal in the 10,000-meter race, the first since Galen Rupp won the silver in London at the 2012 Summer Games. Lewis Tewanima won silver at the 1912 Olympic Games. Billy Mills, who won the gold medal at 10,000 at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, remains the only U.S. man to ever top the distance.
Fisher now belongs in a small club of American distance runners who’ve been good enough to hang with the Africans who dominate distance races. Aregawi won Ethiopia’s 16th medal in the sport, which is the most in Olympic history.
That’s why this medal is so significant for Fisher. This is the validation he’s been seeking. This was his cresting of the mountain. He finished fifth in the 10,000 meters in Tokyo. He was injured in the 2023 world championships.
Fisher knew this was his moment to put it all together. His experience. His talent. His resolve.
He needed all of it when he stumbled with about nine laps to go and almost fell.
Fisher said he got clipped up, stumbled and slipped on the rail. He didn’t fall, but he lost the position he’d been fighting to keep. His race plan was to remain in or near the top three. He doesn’t have the speed to come from too far behind. He’s made the mistake in the past of letting others get too far ahead for him to catch.
So this time, he was determined to stay in the mix for a medal the whole way.
“Then all of a sudden, boom I was in eighth,” he said of his stumble.
The gold medalist employed an opposite strategy. Cheptegei hung back and then, at the right moment, turned on the burners.
When Cheptegei pulled away, he forced Fisher to make a decision. Most others didn’t have much left to keep up with Cheptegei. Fisher was among those who did.
“These races always come down to the last lap, especially the last hundred meters,” Fisher said. “To be in position and fighting. That last 100 meters, you can see your goal right in front of you. I can count to three. Everyone out there can count to three. And I’ve been outside of that every time up until today.
“I’ve seen one, two and three slip away from me before.”
Not this time. He was fifth coming out of the final turn. Then with all his speed, all his strength, all his belief, he made his move. Into fourth. Into third. Into second. On the tail of the Cheptegei. At one point, it looked like Fisher might even catch him.
Cheptegei said this was his last Olympic race. He had his own conviction burning. And he felt the presence of Fisher and Aregawi. It was enough to earn him the gold.
Afterwards, Cheptegei, draped in the Ugandan flag, found Fisher and put his arm around the American and encouraged him. Cheptegei revealed to Fisher this was his last Olympics, and he wanted Fisher to go win in the future.
Cheptegei recognized the fight in Fisher.
“My very first international competition at the senior level was Tokyo,” Fisher said. “I remember I lined up right next to Joshua. And he had just broken the world record in the 10k and the 5k. And I remembered. I’d just (got a personal record) in the 10k. I ran 27:11 — exactly a minute slower than what he’d just ran. And I was like, ‘How am I supposed to race this guy!’”
Three years later, he finished about a half a second behind Cheptegei. And this time, in the biggest race of his life, as Fisher took inventory of the people in front of him, he couldn’t count to three.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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