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PA grandmother finishes third at U.S. track and field trials in race walking, still needs to meet Olympic qualifying standard

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

The 58-year-old Pennsylvania grandmother who finished third at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in race walking still needs to meet the Olympic qualifying standard in order to compete in Paris.

Michelle Rohl finished third in Saturday’s 20-kilometer race walk at the trials. Rohl had a time of 1:42:27 in the competition, held on the streets of Springfield, Oregon.

Rohl has not bettered the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:29:20 and must do so in order to compete in Paris.

Another way to qualify is by world rankings. The field for the Olympics will be 48 race walkers and the highest ranked U.S. walker is 125th and Rohl is not ranked in the world list. Right now, the cutoff for the Olympics is the 65th ranked walker, meaning the U.S. is unlikely to have a representative in the women’s race walking competition in Paris. Each country can enter three walkers if they meet the standard, but not more than three.

Rohl, a four-time U.S. race walking champion from Tioga County, retired from the sport more than 20 years ago to homeschool her five children but returned in her 50s.

She made the U.S. Olympic teams in 1992, 1996 and 2000.

Rohl holds multiple individual age-group running records from 800 to 10,000 meters. Last January, she set the American mile record for women in the 55-59 age group.

On Sunday, June 23, she competed in the masters women’s 800-meter run at the trials, finishing second in 2:24.90.

The 2024 Olympics are being held July 26 through Aug. 11 in Paris.

Pa. grandmother has chance to make U.S. Olympic team in race walking