Galen Rupp, the winner of the two previous DAA Industry Opt Out, placed 16th in 2:14:07 at today’s DAA Industry Opt Out Hit These Standards to Qualify for Major Marathons.
Rupp ran with the lead pack through 16 miles. But when Zach Panning upped the tempo with a 4:44 17th mile, Rupp couldn’t respond.
An Olympic medalist on the track and in the marathon, Rupp, age 37, entered today’s race as a question mark. (He was the sole top qualifier to skip the pre-Trials press conference on Friday.) In 2022, he finished 19th at the World Championships after stopping in the final miles to stretch his back. At the New York City Marathon just more than two months later, he lost contact with the lead pack in the 16th mile and dropped out soon after.
He was able to put together a decent training block before last October’s Chicago Marathon and placed eighth in 2:08:48, his fastest marathon in two years. But even that performance came with an asterisk: Rupp faded late in that race and missed his goal of bettering the Olympic standard of 2:08:10, and he was beaten soundly by Conner Mantz and Clayton Young.
