PARIS, France – Carleton College alum Matthew Wilkinson '21 made his Olympic debut on Monday, finishing sixth in his heat of the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:16.82. That time was only 0.23 seconds off of his lifetime best set earlier this year. However, due to a new rule that went into effect for the 2024 Summer Games, Wilkinson did not advance to the finals despite posting the sixth-fastest time during the preliminary round.
 
New for this Olympiad, instead of any steeplechase racers qualifying for the finals based on time, the top-5 finishers in each of the event's three heats determined the 15 runners to advance to the finals this year.
 
Wilkinson ran in the second—and potentially deepest—of the three heats. His prelim time ended up being faster than 11 of the 16 runners that did move on to the finals, besting some of them by more than eight seconds. In fact, Wilkinson's prelim time was better than both the winner of Heat #1, defending Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali (8:17.90) of Morocco, and the winner of Heat #3, current world record holder Lamecha Girma (8:23.89) of Ethiopia. (Note: After a video review, the referees awarded a 16th spot in the finals to Amos Serem of Kenya, noting that he was interfered with while approaching the water barrier on the penultimate lap, forcing him to retreat and go back over the barrier. Serem did a masterful job of closing the gap and finished only 0.08 second out of an automatic qualifying spot in the first heat.)
 
"Matt had an outstanding day racing against six guys in his heat who all had PRs of at least five seconds faster than Matt's," noted Carleton men's cross country and track & field coach Dave Ricks, who was in attendance to cheer on his former All-American and NCAA National Champion. "It was an outstanding Olympic debut."
 
Wilkinson was 10th in his heat after only 800 meters, but he moved into sixth by the 1,600-meter mark. He momentary moved inside the top five with four laps remaining, but a shakeup in the middle of the park found Wilkinson ninth with only 600 meters remaining. He was still in that spot when the bell rang for the final lap and passed a pair of runners on the backstretch but was unable to catch Avinash Mukund Sable of India for the fifth and final qualifying spot for the heat.
 
Team USA's Kenneth Rooks, who edged Wilkinson at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, did advance to the finals after finishing second in the final heat with a time of 8:24.941. The other American in the event, James Corrigan, finished 10th in the first heat with a time of 8:36.67.
 
Wilkinson is the third Carleton alumni known to have competed at the Olympic games (see chart below).
 

Carleton alumni to compete in the Olympics

Name	Olympiad	Location	Sport	Event	Place
Mary Ostergren '83	Winter 1992	Albertville, France	biathlon	3x7.5km relay	15th
	Winter 1992	Albertville, France	biathlon	7.5km sprint	25th
	Winter 1994	Lillehammer, Norway	biathlon	7.5km sprint	64th
Phillip Dunn '12	Summer 2000	Sydney, Australia	race walk	50km	28th
	Summer 2004	Athens, Greece	race walk	50km	35th
	Summer 2008	Beijing, China	race walk	50km	39th
Matthew Wilkinson '21	Summer 2024	Paris, France	track & field	3000m steeplechase	17th