PURRIER COMPETES ON WORLD STAGE TODAY
County Courier file photo
By Josh Kaufmann
County Courier
Elle Purrier — the pride of Montgomery, Richford, Franklin County, and Vermont — will run in the first of two qualifying heats this morning at 11:25 (ET) in Doha, Qatar, at the International Association of Athletics Federations Track & Field World Championships.
The race will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), which airs locally on channels 126 and 774 (Comcast), 220 (DirecTV); and 159 (Dish). Other options include nbcsports.com and NBC Sports apps on Google Play and Apple Store.
Purrier’s season- and career-best 5,000-meter time of 15 minutes, 8.61 seconds ranks 22nd of the 34 entrants in Doha. Twelve of the 21 with faster times are older than Purrier, including two of her three fellow American qualifiers.
The top five finishers in each heat will advance, along with the next five fastest overall. The World Championships finals are Saturday at 2:25 p.m. (ET).
Purrier, who made the US Team with a third-place at the National Championships in July, will start in a group that includes top seed Hllen Obiri of Kenya, one of four runners with times under 14:30 this year. Karissa Schweizer, a year younger than Purrier, is also in the first group. The pair have raced each other since early in their college careers.
5,000-meter field:
1 Hellen Obiri KEN 14:18.37 (career-best), 14:20.36 (season Best)
2 Sifan Hassan NED 14:22.12, 14:22.12
3 Konstanze Klosterhalfen GER 14:26.76, 14:26.76
4 Letesenbet Gidey ETH 14:23.14, 14:29.54
5 Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi KEN 14:31.69, 14:31.69
6 Hawi Feysa ETH 14:38.76, 14:38.76
7 Fantu Worku ETH 14:45.59, 14:45.59
8 Eilish Mccolgan GBR 14:47.94, 14:47.94
9 Lilian Kasait Rengeruk KEN 14:36.80, 14:48.69
10 Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal NOR 14:51.66, 14:51.66
11 Laura Weightman GBR 14:51.78, 14:51.78
12 Melissa Courtney GBR 14:53.82, 14:53.82
13 Dominique Scott RSA 14:59.08, 14:59.08
14 Tsehay Gemechu ETH 14:59.79, 14:59.79
15 Sarah Chelangat UGA 15:00.61, 15:00.61
16 Karissa Schweizer USA 15:01.63, 15:01.63
17 Marielle Hall USA 15:02.27, 15:02.27
18 Sheila Chelangat KEN 14:54.66, 15:02.69
19 Alina Reh GER 15:04.10, 15:04.10
20 Rachel Schneider USA 15:06.71, 15:06.71
21 Anna Emilie Møller DEN 15:07.70, 15:07.70
22 Elle Purrier USA 15:08.61, 15:08.61
23 Jessica O’Connell CAN 15:06.44, 15:10.64
24 Andrea Seccafien CAN 15:08.59, 15:11.24
25 Tigist Gashaw BRN 15:12.37, 15:12.37
26 Jessica Judd GBR 15:16.47, 15:16.47
27 Maureen Koster NED 15:07.20, 15:17.20
28 Nozomi Tanaka JPN 15:15.80, 15:17.28
29 Hanna Klein GER 15:17.14, 15:19.74
30 Tomoka Kimura JPN 15:12.47, 15:19.99
31 Melissa Duncan AUS 15:18.43, 15:20.88
32 Rachel Cliff CAN 15:20.66, 15:21.12
33 Rina Nabeshima JPN 15:10.91, 15:21.40
34 Camille Buscomb NZL 15:19.81, 15:24.12
35 Shuangshuang u CHN 15:26.44, 15:26.44
36 Valeriya Zhandarova GEO 15:33.10, 15:33.10
37 Cavaline Nahimana BDI 15:33.90, 15:33.90
38 Florencia Borelli ARG 15:36.52, 15:36.52
First Heat
McColgan, Purrier, Koster, Borelli, Chelangat, Buscomb, Feysa, Nahimana, Schweizer, Tanaka, Grovdal, Klein, Seccafien, Scott, Obiri.
Second Heat
Gashaw, Cliff, Duncan, Kipkemboi, Judd, Worku, Weightman, Klosterhalfen, Kimura, Rengeruk, Zhandarova, Schneider, Moller, Gemechu.
