Delayed jubilation as U.S. marathoner accomplishes dream by 0.1 seconds
Runner lunges for the line to narrowly make U.S. Olympic Trials
A tenth of a second is less than the amount of time it takes to blink.
On Saturday morning, a tenth of a second was enough to make the difference for Jesse Davis as the U.S. marathoner accomplished his running dream.
Davis qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the marathon by running 2:17:59.9, sneaking below the 2:18:00 standard en route to victory at the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis, Ind. The trials are set for Feb. 13 in Los Angeles.
Davis, 33 and a native of Indianapolis, appeared to miss the standard on first glance. It was found that the clock started three seconds before the race began. The time was amended to reflect Davis’ actual time shortly after he finished.
“It was delayed jubilation, I guess,” Davis told the Indianapolis Star. “It was pretty awesome, just in the hometown and pull it off … that was crazy.”
Back in 2011, Canadian Eric Gillis ran 2:11:27.3 at the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon, which qualified him for the 2012 London Olympics. The 2012 Canadian standard was 2:11:29 showing the importance of running through the line.
Interestingly, Chris Lemon, another U.S. marathoner, qualified for the Olympic trials despite running 2:18:06 at the 2015 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Lemon is listed as a qualified athlete eligible to compete for a spot on the U.S. team at 2016 Summer Olympics.
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