Schneider is soaking up the atmosphere and doing final workouts before competing Friday in the semifinals of the 5,000-meter run.
After 24 hours of travel from her home in Flagstaff, Arizona, to Tokyo, Rachel Schneider was probably a bit tired and bleary-eyed when she arrived at her first Olympic Games. But when the Sanford native got to the Olympic Village, “There was definitely that ‘WOW, I’m really at the Olympics!!!’ feeling. “Pulling into the Village and going into the dining hall for the first time – where there are athletes of all sports from all over the world eating and intermingling – was just so exciting,” Schneider told the Press Herald in an email. “It’s hard to put into words but it’s cooler than I even imagined.” Schneider,30, is competing on the track in the 5,000 meters. She qualified by placing third at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in June in Eugene, Oregon, closely behind winner Elise Cranny and runner-up Karissa Schweizer, a pair of 25-year-olds who train together. A high school standout at St. Thomas Aquinas in Dover, New Hampshire, Schneider was a multi-time All-American at Georgetown University before turning pro in 2014. She narrowly missed making the U.S. team for the 2015 World Championship and failed to reach the final in the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials. She did compete in the 2019 World Championships, placing 19th in the 5,000. The 5,000 semifinals take place Friday, at 6:00 a.m. and 6:26 a.m. Eastern time. The top five finishers in each heat plus the next five fastest qualify for Monday’s final, scheduled for 6:40 a.m. Eastern time. None of the Americans is considered a likely medal candidate, but based on their personal-best times, each has good reason to believe they can advance to the final. “My goal is to give my absolute all in the race and represent Team USA to the best of my abilities,” Schneider said. Based on 2021 times, Schneider is the ninth-fastest woman in the field, with a personal best of 14 minutes,52.
