Americans Karissa Schweizer, Elise Cranny advance to 5,000-meter final in Tokyo

Bowerman Track Club teammates Karissa Schweizer and Elise Cranny have qualified for Monday’s 5,000-meter final.

Schweizer, 25, finished in a time of 14:51.34 for seventh place in her preliminary heat Thursday. While the top five finishers of each heat earn automatic qualification, the NCAA legend was able to sweat it out with a time qualifier to clinch a spot in the final round.

Schweizer is coming off of a second-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials but has the fastest personal record of the American women, running 14:26.34 in 2020.

Good morning 🇺🇸 / Good evening 🇯🇵

Women's 5000m heats are the first event back on the track.

🇺🇸 @KarissaSchweiz4 (Heat 1)
🇺🇸 @elisecranny13 (Heat 2)
🇺🇸 @rachschneid18 (Heat 2)

Livestream: https://t.co/TrT79RrElc#TeamUSATF #TokyoOlympics #JourneyToGold pic.twitter.com/OkjEDivyNu

— USATF (@usatf) July 30, 2021

Cranny and Rachel Schneider, another American, raced together in the second heat.

Through the first 2,000 meters of the race, Cranny and Schneider’s heat was several seconds slower than Schweizer’s.

But Cranny, 25, was able to snatch a fourth-place finish and automatically qualify for the final. The former Stanford standout is coming off of a dominant victory at the U.S. Olympic Trials and a personal best of 14:48.02 in 2020.

Schneider’s finish, meanwhile, left her without a qualifying spot.

Schweizer and Cranny now head into Monday’s 5,000-meter final, where they will compete against a stacked distance field.