A week ago, it appeared Brenda Martinez would go down as the heartbreak story of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. On Sunday, she wrote a different ending.
After a final-lap tumble dashed Martinez’s Olympic ambitions in the 800 meters, the 28-year-old lunged at the finish line of the 1500-meter final to finish third, edging Amanda Eccleston by 0.03 seconds, 4:06.16 to 4:06.19.
“Right when I finished [the 800-meter final], I said, ‘God’s not going to deny me or anything, he just might delay things,” Martinez said. “I feel like it happened for a reason… I feel like everyone’s emails and messages on Facebook and Twitter really helped me, because I had so many people on my side.”
Ahead of Martinez, Jenny Simpson, 29, ran a dominant last lap to win her third U.S. 1500-meter title in 4:04.74 and qualify for her third consecutive Olympic Games.
“I wanted to measure my energy so that I’d still have a big strong kick at the end, but I just felt like I had it,” Simpson said of the final 400 meters. “I really felt great.”
Shannon Rowbury, 31, closed hard on the home straightaway to finish second in 4:05.39, less than a second behind Simpson. Rowbury appeared to be boxed in with 200 meters to go, but lane 1 opened up on the final curve, and she darted through the gap to set up her impressive finishing kick.
“It was a pretty messy race, but with my dancing background, I’ve always been pretty quick on my feet,” Rowbury said. “Once I got [an opening], I went hard.”
All three women on the U.S. 1500-meter team will head to Rio having already won medals on the international stage: Simpson won 1500-meter gold at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu and silver two years later in Moscow; Rowbury took bronze at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin; and Martinez finished third in the 800 meters at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
“I think we’re sending the strongest 1500 meter team I’ve ever seen,” said Eccleston, the fourth-place finisher. “I’m very excited to be someone pushing them and making them better.”
Eccleston came agonizingly close to joining Simpson and Rowbury on the Olympic team, but her dive at the finish line fell inches short.
“I was just fighting with everything I had at the end,” Eccleston said. “Every time I had a surge, Brenda had another one to match it.”
At the finish line, Eccleston didn’t immediately know whether or not she’d snuck past Martinez. “I thought I was fourth, but a tiny part of me was still hoping that maybe I fell a little further a little faster,” she explained. “I didn’t know until I heard it.”
The athlete who edged Eccleston knows the feeling of Olympic Trials disappointment better than most. Martinez entered last week’s 800-meter final as a strong favorite to finish in the top 3 and qualify for her first Olympic Games, but she fell out of contention after tangling legs with Alysia Montaño and stumbling badly with 120 meters to go.
“I have a little bit of frustration,” Martinez said following the 800-meter race. “I know I am good enough to make the team, but again, some days it’s not going to go your way.”
On Sunday, Martinez appeared to get clipped late in the race once again, but this time she kept her feet — at least until the finish line.
“With five meters, I felt myself falling,” she said. “I think my legs just buckled under me. That was all I had.”
In August, the American trio will try to earn the first Olympic 1500-meter medal in U.S. women’s history. Rowbury finished sixth in a 2012 final that included Advertisement - Continue Reading Below before or after that race; she has subsequently moved up to fifth place in official results. Rowbury says she’s hopeful that this year’s event will be competed on a more level playing field.
“The past is what it is. It can’t be changed,” she said following Sunday’s race. “I can only hope and pray for the future that [track and field] is a sport we can be proud of…I just have to believe in my heart that we will keep moving forward.”
