Men’s Steeple: Kenneth Rooks said he is “Going for Gold”, El Bakkali & Girma Cruise, Serem Has to Re-Hurdle Water Jump
By Robert JohnsonPARIS – The 2024 Olympic men’s steeple final is set. Olympic champ Soufiane El Bakkali and world record holder Lamecha Girma both looked great in winning their heats, but world indoor 1500 champ Geordie Beamish struggled and failed to advance to the final after taking 7th in his heat.
Kenneth Rooks, who finished 2nd behind Girma in heat 3, will be the lone American in the final. Matthew Wilkinson just missed out on a qualifier, taking 6th in heat 2 in 8:16.82 (just off his PB; top five advanced) while James Corrigan was never a factor, running 8:36.67 for 10th in heat 1.
Our analysis below.
Soufiane El Bakkali looks like himself again
After being limited during the regular season with a knee injury that caused him to take two months off earlier this year, reigning world/Olympic champ Soufiane El Bakkali looked as good as ever. Staying in the pack for most of his prelim before taking control of his heat El Bakkali looked more like his old self, than the one that had a taped-up knee and won his only race of the year back in May by less than a second. Bakkali looked composed, healthy, in control, and ready to defend his Olympic title.
Bizarre first heat as Kenyan Amos Serem has to re-run water jump but makes the final anyway
In a bizarre chain of events, Amos Serem tried to pass Daniel Arce on the inside approaching the penultimate water jump, but there was contact between the two runners, forcing Serem to run past the barrier on the inside, turn around, and awkwardly re-hurdle it. He almost made a massive comeback, moving back up to 6th entering the home straight, but couldn’t catch anyone else and was initially eliminated.
However, after a quick protest, Serem was placed into the final. Serem, who was trying to shoot a narrow gap, said the contact between the two runners meant he could not safely hurdle the barrier and his appeal was granted. Serem has the third-fastest time in the world this year with an 8:02.36 run at DL Paris.
Kenneth Rooks want to make sure he gives it his all and will run for gold in the final
When we caught up with Rooks after his heat, he admitted he was nervous but that’s not a bad thing as he said he gets nervous for pretty much every race.
“Yeah [I’m] very happy with that. I mean, especially because I was really nervous this morning. Today was one of those days where you’re trying to eat your food, and food just doesn’t taste good because you’re so nervous. But I was able to be focused and relaxed and in the zone when I made it to the stadium and executed my game plan. I’m really happy,” said Rooks afterward.
“As long as I just trust in just doing my best and just focusing on the process things are going to work out. And even if they didn’t work out today, where I didn’t make the final, I was in the mindset that I would have been able to give it my all. And so that’s my goal – to try and get myself into that mindset so that I can give it my all. And I’m hoping to get in that mindset again on Wednesday,” added Rooks.
After Rooks’s training partner James Corrigan was eliminated earlier in heat 1, we asked him how he thought Kenneth would do and he correctly said, “You can expect him to make it through looking comfortable, that’s for sure.”
We asked Corrigan if Rooks had been beating him in practice, and he responded. “Oh, I wouldn’t call it beating. I’d call it decimating. He’s just been looking very smooth and he’s been looking way too comfortable running the times we have.”
When we asked Rooks about his fitness, he said workouts have been “going really well” and thinks he’s fitter than he’s ever been.
“I’m feeling good in workouts, feeling fit, feeling prepared. I feel like I’ve been running the fastest I have been running my steeple workouts ever. So I’m in a good place, in a really good place,” said the US champion.
“I want a race to win and like well I’m gonna be happy with the outcome regardless. I don’t know, I don’t know exactly where that’s gonna put me, but I’m gonna be in a mindset where I’m gonna just race in a way that’s gonna help me be the most successful,” said Rooks.
We were lucky to catch up with Rooks’s family and got this great photo of Team Rooks,
Kennth’s wife is on the far left and his Mom and Dad are on the right.
Geordie Beamish said he has not been able to hurdle or sprint for the last month
Back in May, Beamish of New Zealand and the On Athletics Club felt he was in the best shape of his life. He had just won the world indoor title at 1500 meters and was ready to try to improve on his 5th-place finish at Worlds in the steeple last year. Then Beamish developed the hip impingement that derailed his season.
The injury was extremely painful for Beamish, but it prevented him from running fast in practice. With this being an Olympic year, he gutted through it but since then his training has been far from what he would like:
“I haven’t done a barrier since Paris [Diamond League] and I haven’t even done strides in between runs, it’s just been too painful,” Beamish said.
That said, Beamish did run a PB of 8:09 in the Paris Diamond League on July 7. He was hoping that would mean he could be competitive at the Olympics, but looking back, he felt that race was the result of the residual fitness he had built through May, and the lack of quality training for the last two months caught up to him tonight.
Beamish’s failure to qualify continued a rough meet for the On Athletics Club, which saw two of its three 1500 men fail to make the semis. But OAC still has medal chances with Yared Nuguse in the 1500 on Tuesday and Hellen Obiri in the marathon on Sunday.
James Corrigan says he just needs more experience, next up a backpacking trip with his wife
The surprise US Olympian’s dream season came to an end in heat 1 as he was way back in 10th in 8:36.67.
“It’s just different. I mean, I said the same thing after nationals, the NCAA, there’s just needed experience. You can’t always skip rungs. This was definitely one of those times where I needed the experience. I got a lot of confidence. I got a lot of intel, just from being with Kenneth (Rooks), for example, and having Conner (Mantz) and Clay (Clayton Young) and all these guys that have raced internationally or have raced on a bigger stage, but there’s just a certain level of just unawareness I still have,” said Corrigan. “And so coming here, I thought there was going to be a lot of people cheering on the last lap, but there was people cheering from the gun, and it did not stop, and it was just so, loud. And I think it threw me for a loop a little bit. People were definitely jostling, a little more willing to kind of push around and stuff.”
“And I honestly just felt very tired. I’m not gonna lie, and I’ll credit half that to just having a long season. But certainly no excuse.”
Corrigan, who is soon going on a backpacking trip with his wife before getting ready for cross country at BYU, admitted it’s been a wild few months. A few months ago, the Olympics were little more than a joke goal.
“I had joked about it, I suppose. And I guess I don’t know if I’d use the term joke, but I remember telling a teammate in the hot tub one day. I was like, it’s kind of crazy. You know, technically, if you look at it on paper, it’s five races to make it from where I was at the time (to the Olympics)… Technically, it’s just five races and so I remember, like, kind of joking that it was pretty easy, but then I actually did it, and it was kind of crazy, and it was very hard.”
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