Rohl to make 20K race walk return
Three-time Olympian Michelle Rohl didn’t plan on competing in the women’s 20,000-meter race walk at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.
The plan was to only run in Sunday’s masters 800 meters — an exhibition race for women ages 55-64 — in which Rohl took second with a time of 2 minutes, 15.59 seconds at Hayward Field.
“I got tricked into the walk,” the 58year-old Rohl said after the race. “I just did my qualifying race like, three, four weeks ago. It wasn’t planned. I talked to my coaches like you know, I think I could make that time and then we went and tried it. I was sure I could make it four or eight years ago, but I didn’t try.”
When the Philadelphia native steps onto the course next Saturday to compete in the 20K race walk, the mood will be a lot less stressful for her in her fifth Olympic trials. She still holds the meet record of 1:32.39.0 that she set in 2000.
“I’m not trying for an Olympic spot,” she said. “I’m just going to be able to come to the trials and enjoy it.”
But that doesn’t mean Rohl isn’t preparing a strategy for next weekend.
“It sort of depends on what some other people do,” she said. “It might be hot. Some people might crash bad, and I might be able to sweep some people up. But I did a 1:45 for my qualifying race and with two laps to go I fell really hard on my chin, and I was bleeding down the front of me, my jaw was jammed, and I knocked the wind out of myself. If I can stay on my feet for this one, I’m sure I can go under 1:45.”
The road back to the Olympic trials has been a long time in the making for Rohl, who wasn’t sure she would compete at all after she suffered a concussion in a fall last year that resulted in a long break.
But the hiatus goes back even further for Rohl as Saturday will mark 24 years since her last trials and 32 years since her first in 1992.
“Every day when I get up and think about what my goal is,” Rohl said reflecting on her journey. “But that is the shape I’m in right now, and I know tomorrow I might not be in that shape at all. So I’m grateful for it. I don’t take it for granted because next year, I might not be able to train at all.”