Kelati Becomes A Naturalized Citizen and will Compete to Represent the United States at the Olympics

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In 2020, Weini Kelati left the collegiate scene to begin her professional running career with the Dark Sky Distance Team. Today, she became a naturalized citizen of The United States of America and will compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials to represent the U.S. at the Olympics in August.

Kelati finished her collegiate career at UNM as the most decorated All-American in program history, finishing her career with 13 All-Americans, four school track records, five Mountain West records (four in track), six Mountain West Conference individual titles (two in cross country, four in track), a team NCAA cross country championship and two individual NCAA titles and countless regional, conference and national awards.

In her final season that was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelati was recognized by The Bowerman as among the best in the sport throughout the season, appearing in the preseason, mid-indoor, and pre-NCAA indoor watch lists. In the same year, Kelati USTFCCCA National Women’s Athlete of the Year, twice named the MW Women’s Peak Athlete of the Week, twice named the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I National Athlete of the Week, named the MW Women’s Conference Athlete of the Year for the second straight year, earned USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Region and was named the Honda Sports Award winner for Cross Country, becoming just the second Lobo to win in cross country and the third in UNM history.

Now, officially being a U.S. citizen, Kelati will have the opportunity to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team that will head to Tokyo in August. Kelati will compete in the 10k alongside former Lobo, Ednah Kurgat, which is tabbed to take place Sat., June 26 at 7:44 p.m. MT. Kelati’s personal-best time is 31:10.08, making her the No. 7 seed in the race, based on marks achieved during the qualifying period.

To keep up with Kelati and the rest of the Lobo squad, past and present, at the Olympic Trials, tune into NBC and the NBC Sports Network. To stream, visit http://NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app for streaming coverage. For live results, visit this link (https://results.usatf.org/).