ldquo;Trying to hone in on everything that I could,” he said

It was deafening. The Stade de France, capacity 80,000, was shaking on August 2 for the first track final of the 2024 Olympics, the men’s 10,000 meters.

And the crowd had plenty to cheer for. In a sizzling race, the lead changed at least seven times and ended with Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda winning in 26:43.14, an Olympic record. Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia took the silver medal in 26:43.44.

Grant Fisher of the U.S. won the bronze in 26:43.46, his first international medal. He was just 0.02 seconds behind Aregawi.

Fisher’s former training partner with the Bowerman Track Club, Mo Ahmed of Canada, who was in second with 200 meters to go, ran out of gas steps from the finish line and crossed in fourth, missing a medal. The first 13 finishers broke 27 minutes, and they all broke the previous Olympic record, 27:01.17, set by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in 2008.

It was Fisher’s second-fastest 10,000 meters, behind only the American record (26:33.84) he set in 2022, at the TEN, an annual track meet in Southern California with perfect conditions for running an even pace and a fast time.

This Olympic 10,000 bore no resemblance to the TEN. It was “choppy,” in Fisher’s words, with a trio of Ethiopians taking turns at the lead and yo-yoing the pace from fast to slow and back to fast.

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Grant Fisher’s coach, Mike Scannell, had gone to his usual perch, scrambling down to the front row at the 200-meter mark, thinking it wouldn’t be noisy there. He was wrong.

“The crowd was incredible,” Fisher said. “That was the biggest and loudest crowd I’ve ever been in front of. The biggest stadium I’ve ever been in was Tokyo [for the 2021 Games, which had no fans due to the pandemic], and that was silent. This was so different and from the first lap, the crowd was screaming. I couldn’t hear anything that entire race.

“The 10K doesn’t get a lot of love sometimes, but with that crowd it felt like we were the best show in town,” Fisher continued. “It was super fun.”

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A long-sought medal

Fun, especially, because for the first time in his life, he had finished in the medals. Fisher had been close before: fifth in Tokyo in 2021 in the 10,000 meters, fourth in Eugene, Oregon, at the 2022 World Championships in the 10,000 and knocked out of position on the final straightaway in the 5,000. Last year since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books and missed the World Championships. All he could do was ride the stationary bike and stew from the couch.

Fisher made no secret of wanting a medal, and he did everything he could to get one. Most notably, he left the Bowerman Track Club, moved to Park City, Utah, and re-enlisted Scannell, who had coached him in high school. Everything was aligned for a single person: Fisher. It was a puzzle—and he finally solved it.

At the post-race press conference, Fisher ticked off a list of things he changed in the last year to prepare for this night: optimize his altitude plan, individualize his training, switch coaches, implement different ideas in training, include more threshold work. He chose a higher frequency of workouts over less frequent, more intense workouts. He’s done a lot more lactate testing.

“Trying to hone in on everything that I could,” he said.

Even with everything that had gone right during training, Fisher had to put it together on race day. His plan—to stay within the top three—was nearly undone as the pack was passing a lapped runner 16 laps into the 25-lap race. Fisher got caught up in the crowd, stumbled, and stepped on the rail.

Somehow, he kept his balance, and although he was momentarily back in sixth place, he kept calm and worked his way up over the course of the next three laps.

“Just relax and reset,” Fisher said he told himself. “It was certainly a little rattling. I spent a whole race defending a position and to have it go like that—it doesn’t feel great. But it’s a 10K. You can make a few mistakes and still recover.”

At the bell, there was still a crowd, eight men within a second of Cheptegei. Fisher was in fifth, and he covered the moves as best he could.

“I don’t have the lights-out speed to make up a ton of ground instantly,” he said. “I wanted to be in a good position.”

Scannell liked what he saw. “Grant started to move maybe 120 to go,” he said. “He moved well from 110 to 50 left. He stalled a little bit late, but I was really happy with the way he could move.”

Coming down the homestretch, it was all Fisher had dreamed of.

“You replay that situation over and over in your head in the lead-up,” he said. “These races always come down to the last lap, and specifically the last 100 meters. To be in position and fighting and you’re riding the line the whole race, but that last 100 meters, you can see your goal right in front of you. I can count to three. Everyone in that race can count to three. This sport is defined by top three. I’ve been outside of that every time, up until today.”

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“It feels so good,” Fisher said.

Scannell agreed: “It takes my breath away,” he said. “It’s beyond words.”

Fisher still has the 5,000 meters to run. The first round starts on August 7. But Scannell is going to let this one sink in. Savor it for a day, maybe two, before he and Fisher start talking about the next race.

And for all the planning Scannell did to get Fisher on the podium, they neglected one small detail: the medal ceremony.

It’s not until the evening after the race, August 3 at 7 p.m. Scannell thought it was happening immediately after the race. In Scannell’s mind, Fisher was supposed to go back to altitude in Switzerland the day after the 10,000, to get ready for the 5,000.

That’s postponed by a day, at least. A small change in plans. It’s worth it.

After all, as Fisher said after the race, and as he knows all too well: “You don’t medal every day.”