EUGENE, Ore. – Carleton College alum Matt Wilkinson '21 will race at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Friday, June 21. He is scheduled to run in the preliminary round of 3000-meter steeplechase at 6:49 p.m. CDT/4:49 p.m. PDT with the finals slated for Sunday evening.
 
The steeplechase preliminary round includes two heats. The top-five finishers in each heat plus the next four fastest times will advance to the finals scheduled to be held Sunday, June 23 at 9:07 p.m. CDT/7:07 pm. PDT. In most cases, the top-three finishers in the finals for each event at the U.S. Trials will qualify to compete at the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris (July 26-August 11). Competitors must also meet the Olympic qualifying standard for their event (8:15.00 for the steeplechase) or be listed high enough in World Athletics' world rankings.

Wilkinson enters this weekend competition at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field with a season-best time of 8:16.59, which he posted at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix in May. That time ranks as the No. 3 time in the United States this year and the No. 24 time in the world.
 
An eight-time All-American while competing in cross country and track & field at Carleton, Wilkinson won a pair of NCAA individual track titles while competing for the Knights, capping his senior year with first-place finishes in both the steeplechase (8:47.39) and 5000-meter run (13:55.27). After graduating from Carleton, he competed for the University of Minnesota (NCAA Division I) while pursuing his master of public health – epidemiology and added two more All-America awards to his résumé, finishing eighth in the steeplechase in 2022 and fifth in 2023.
 
Fans can follow the action via live results and the television and webcast schedule.
 
Men's 3000 Steeplechase Preview (courtesy USATF.org)
First Round - Friday, June 21, 4:49 p.m. PT
Final - Sunday, June 23, 7:07 p.m. PT
World Record - 7:52.11 - Lamecha Girma (ETH) - Paris, June 9, 2023
American Record - 8:00.45 - Evan Jager (Oregon TC) - Paris, July 4, 2015
Olympic Trials Record - 8:15.02 - Daniel Lincoln (Nike) - Sacramento, July 15, 2004
2024 world leader - 8:01.63 - Lamecha Girma (ETH) - Stockholm, June 2, 2024
2024 U.S. leader - 8:13.30 - Hillary Bor  (HOKA/ADP) - Marrakech, May 19, 2024
Olympic Standard - 8:15.00
Advancement procedure: 2 heats; top 5 in each heat and next 4 fastest advance to 14-person final
 
Hillary Bor is the defending Trials champion and the third-fastest American ever with a PB of 8:08.41, and he tops the U.S. list in 2024 at 8:13.30. Bor is a two-time Olympian, placing seventh at Rio 2016, and has been a World Championships competitor three times with a pair of eighth place efforts in 2019 and 2022. Last year's feel-good story was BYU's Kenneth Rooks, who fell down early in the USATF final and got up to win. Now repping Nike, Rooks was also the NCAA champion for BYU last season and went on to take 10th at Budapest. He dropped his PB to 8:15.08 in May. Benard Keter was 11th at Tokyo and lowered his PB to 8:17.19 behind Rooks at last year's USATF meet, and he has two trips to the World Championships on his résumé. Three-time NCAA champion Anthony Rotich, the 2020 USATF cross country winner, tucked into a fast race at Monaco's Diamond League meet in 2023 and nabbed a PB of 8:13.74. Budapest finalist Isaac Updike has run 8:17.47 and was ninth at the Doha Diamond League meet in May, and Tokyo team member Mason Ferlic scored an 8:16.03 PB in the same Monaco race as Rotich. Parker Stokes, the NCAA champion for Georgetown, and Virginia's Nathan Mountain are collegians who could figure in the final outcome. Riding two straight PBs this season, Matthew Wilkinson was sixth in 2023 and his 8:16.59 at the USATF LA GP bodes well for his prospects here.