Weini Kelati Finishes as Top American in Olympic 10K Final

PARIS – Weini Kelati’s American Dream has had many chapters — and many high-stakes races — but Friday’s Olympic 10,000m Final at Stade de France might be one of the most meaningful.

In her Olympic debut, Kelati hung with the front pack and shaved more than 51 seconds off her time from U.S. Olympic Trials but succumbed to a furious final-lap kick to finish eighth on the world’s biggest stage, the top American in the race with a 30:49.98 time. She finished a little over six seconds behind Gold Medalist Beatrice Chebet of Kenya (30:43.25), who was followed by Nadia Balocletti of Italy (30:43.35) and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands (30:44.12) for silver and bronze, respectively.

WEINI’S WINNING WAYS

Nearly a decade after she intentionally missed a flight home to her native Eritrea to start a new life in the United States, Kelati has reasserted herself as one of — if not the best — distance athletes in America. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in June 2021, changing her national sports allegiance from Eritrea to the USA.

Kelati is no stranger to the big stage — at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in 2017 and 2018, she finished seventh and second, respectively, helping the Lobos to their second NCAA Team Championship in Cross Country in 2017. She then went on to win the whole thing in 2019 with a 19:47.5 finish, 9.6 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher for the largest margin of victory since 2007 before being named the Honda Sports Award recipient for cross country as a result.

Kelati also won a national title in the 10,000m at NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2019, concluding her career as the most decorated athlete in program history with 13 All-American honors as well as three MW Athlete of the Year Awards and two USTFCCCA Mountain Region Athlete of the Year Awards.