PARIS — Former BYU star Whittni Morgan placed 15th overall and sixth in her heat to qualify for the Olympic 5000-meter final Monday morning at the Stade de France.

Morgan clocked a season-best time of 15:02.14 in her Olympic debut. The 2021 NCAA individual cross country champion raced in the middle of the pack for the first 10 laps of the 12.5 lap race. With just over 800m to go Morgan surged to the front pack and crossed the finish line in sixth place with the top eight in both heats moving on to the final. The Adidas professional will join USA teammates Elise Cranny and Karissa Schweizer for Monday’s final at 1:10 p.m. MT.

“I am really proud of the way I ran” said Morgan. “If you saw me in college, I was not a smart racer. I feel like I ran so smart out there today. I was prepared to be really tough and I needed to be.”

“Whittni ran a perfectly executed race and I am beyond proud,” BYU track coach Diljeet Taylor said. “Faith and hope were the keys today, and wow, I am speechless.”

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