ST. GEORGE — Panguitch native Whittni Orton Morgan competed in the women’s 5,000-meter final at the Olympics in Paris on Monday, achieving a personal-best time of 14:53.57 and taking 14th place overall amid a world-class competitive field.
Morgan cut more than 8.5 seconds off her qualifying time on Friday when she finished sixth in her heat with a time of 15:02.14, less than two seconds off Beatrice Chebet of Kenya’s heat-winning time of 15:00.73.
In Monday’s final at the Stade de France, Chebet ended up with the gold medal after leading a group of runners who pulled away over the last couple laps. Chebet crossed the finish line in a blistering time of 14:28.56, just ahead of fellow Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, who finished in 14:29.60.
Shortly after the event concluded, it was announced that Kipyegon had been disqualified for obstruction after bumping into another runner late in the race; however, after a successful appeal of the judges’ decision, Kipyegon’s result was allowed to stand and she kept her silver medal.
Earning the bronze was the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, the Ethiopian-born distance runner who had won gold in that same event (along with the 10,000-meter run) at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
On Monday, Hassan had hung back at the rear of the pack for much of the first several laps (as did Morgan) before dramatically picking up the pace over the last few hundred meters.
Morgan’s Team USA teammates, Karissa Schweizer (14:45.57) and Elise Cranny (14:48.06), finished 10th and 11th, respectively.
Although Morgan’s Olympic journey is now over, her training partner and former BYU teammate Courtney Wayment of Layton is scheduled to compete in the final of the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase on Tuesday.
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