Fisher nets bronze in 10K

World record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won the race in an Olympic record 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds. The top five finishers all hit 26:43 — with hundredths of a second separating the pack in longest race conducted on the track. Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia took silver in 26:43.44, just catching Fisher (26:43.46) at the line. That was the second fastest time ever by an American. 

“I’ve been close to medals before, but I’ve never gotten one,” said Fisher, who was fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021. “So much has to go right to get to the podium. I needed to execute a pretty perfect race. These races always come down to the last 100. My tactics were to stay in medal position.”

And that is what he did, fluctuating between second and fourth place in a tight pack throughout the race, mostly led by one of the three Ethiopian runners — who had all of the top times of 2024 coming in.  

Fisher is the first American to claim a men’s 10K medal since Galen Rupp took silver in 2012 in London. Only two other Americans have medaled in the event: Lewis Tewanima, with silver at the 1912 Stockholm Games, and a gold medal from Billy Mills at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Fisher said Mills has served as an “inspiration.”  

Although jubilant about finally reaching the podium, Fisher realizes he won’t catch former Stanford classmate Katy Ledecky in number of Olympic medals. The “other” 27-year-old ex-Cardinal has already become the greatest female Olympic medal winner, with 13 in swimming.

Fisher, who noted it was “cool” to be following his classmate’s swimming accomplishments here, does have the 5,000 meters next week, at the end of the Games, to continue his own medal quest — and then, perhaps join Ledecky in Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympics.

Stanford continues to make its presence felt at the Games: 

swimmer Regan Smith won her third silver medal at La Defense Arena Friday to highlight that sport for the USA. She swam the 200 meter backstroke in 2:04.24, just behind the Olympic record performance of 2:03.73 by Australia’s Kaylee McKeon, who out-sprinted Smith over the final 50.  

Preliminary track and field performances Friday saw several ex-Stanford stars in the spotlight: Reigning Olympic champion Valarie Allman needed just one discus throw — 228 feet, 3 inches — to lead all women qualifiers. It was the best-ever throw by an American at the Olympics.

Elise Cranny advanced to the women’s 5,000 meter finals, finishing seventh in her race in 14:58.55, while Juliette Whitaker advanced to the women’s 800 meter semis, placing third in her opening heat in 2:00.45. 

Harrison Williams finished the first day of men’s decathlon competition with a solid 46.71 clocking in the 400 meters to stand in eighth place with 4,432 points going into Saturday’s final five events. Leo Neugebauer of Germany, the 2024 NCAA champion for the University of Texas, leads with 4,650 points. Williams had a personal best in the shot put of 51-4 1/2.