It’s been 5 years since Evan Jager has competed on the championship degree.
As soon as the face of the U.S. steeplechase crew and the quickest American of all time, Jager has dealt together with his share of setbacks since profitable bronze on the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.
However now he’s again, and Monday, he’ll race for a medal as soon as once more when the three,000-meter steeplechase last begins at 7:20 p.m. at Hayward Discipline.
“I believe it’s fairly just like the place I used to be firstly of my steeple profession,” Jager, 33, mentioned of his expectations after ending second in his semifinal warmth Friday night. “Hoping for a medal if all the pieces goes properly, however kinda operating to do as finest as I can.
“However on the identical time, I’ve been on the high at this degree. Although it’s been some time since I’ve been there, that athlete remains to be in me deep down someplace. So that you by no means know what can occur.”
Jager, who lives in Portland and is a member of the Bowerman Monitor Membership, set the American document when he ran 8:00.45 in 2015. A yr later he received silver on the 2016 Rio Olympics for the primary steeplechase medal by an American in 32 years.
A stress fracture in 2018 ended his season early and likewise prompted him to overlook 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season, after which in 2021, a calf damage saved him from competing on the U.S. Olympic Monitor & Discipline Trials.
By means of all of it, he was sure he may get again to competing at a championship degree.
“I felt so horrible the final 4 years,” Jager mentioned. “However a part of me simply felt like if I may get wholesome once more and get constant coaching in, I may get again to that degree, and I’ve at all times believed that.”
He’s raced six occasions this season with a high time of 8:17.29 from his second-place end on the USATF Out of doors Championships.
“My confidence and my health and my physique have been gaining momentum every week,” Jager mentioned. “I simply really feel higher and higher and higher.”
Different highlights Monday
Ladies’s 1,500 last, 7:50 p.m. — Former Oregon standout Jessica Hull and her Union Athletics Membership coaching associate Sinclaire Johnson each cruised by way of the semifinal rounds Saturday, with Hull ending second in her warmth in 4:01.81 and Johnson third in her warmth in 4:04.51. Now the Australian record-holder (Hull) and the U.S. champ (Johnson) will toe the road within the last in opposition to a discipline that features Kenyan nice Religion Kipyegon, who has received back-to-back Olympic golds and both gold (2017) or silver (2015, 2019) on the final three world championships.
Males’s 200 prelims, 5:05 p.m. — After an exciting U.S. sweep within the 100 on Saturday evening, the lads’s sprinters get again on the monitor within the opening spherical of the 200, together with 100 champion Fred Kerley and a bunch of top-notch Individuals in Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton.
Ladies’s 200 prelims, 6 p.m. — Former Duck Jenna Prandini has made two Olympic groups within the 200 however hasn’t made a world championship crew since 2015 when she was nonetheless a junior at Oregon. That is massive likelihood for Prandini to finish that streak in entrance of loyal followers.
Different finals — Ladies’s marathon, 6:15 a.m.; males’s excessive soar, 5:45 p.m.; ladies’s triple soar, 6:20 p.m.; heptathlon 800, 6:55 p.m.
The best way to watch Monday
TV: 6-9:30 a.m., USA Community; 7:30-10:30 p.m., USA Community
Different methods to look at: All televised protection shall be simul-streamed by way of NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports activities app, with programming with Peacock Premium. For a whole schedule, go to NBCsports.com.
Comply with Chris Hansen on Twitter@chansen_RG or e mail atchansen@registerguard.com.
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