PARIS — Former BYU track star Kenneth Rooks earned an Olympic silver medal Wednesday after he jumped 10 spots in the last leg of the 3,000-meter men’s steeplechase finals at Stade de France.
Rooks destroyed his previous personal best by 9 seconds, crossing the finish line in 8 minutes and 6 seconds.
This is the first Olympic medal for a current or former BYU men's track and field athlete since Frank Fredericks won silver in the 100-meter and 200-meter at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta.
The former Cougar started the race in the back of the pack, finding himself in 13th after the first 1,000 meters. In the second portion of the race, Rooks was able to advance three spots closer, but it wasn’t until the final lap when he turned on the gas.
Rooks found the outside lane, put his head down, and pushed as he passed all nine of the racers in front of him as the bell rang, taking a considerable lead for first.
In the final stretch, defending gold medalist El Bakkali Soufine of Morocco gained on Rooks and they ran side-by-side for several meters before Soufine pulled ahead.
Historically, only Rooks and two other Americans can say that they are Olympic steeplechase medalists. Horace Ashenfelter won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, while Evan Jagar won a silver medal for Team USA at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.