Schneider is soaking up the atmosphere and doing final workouts before competing Friday in the semifinals of the 5,000-meter run.<\/b>
\nAfter 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, \u201cThere was definitely that \u2018WOW, I\u2019m really at the Olympics!!!\u2019 feeling. \u201cPulling into the Village and going into the dining hall for the first time \u2013 where there are athletes of all sports from all over the world eating and intermingling \u2013 was just so exciting,\u201d Schneider told the Press Herald in an email. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words but it\u2019s cooler than I even imagined.\u201d 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\u2019s 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. \u201cMy goal is to give my absolute all in the race and represent Team USA to the best of my abilities,\u201d Schneider said. Based on 2021 times, Schneider is the ninth-fastest woman in the field, with a personal best of 14 minutes,52.04 seconds in May in Irvine, California. When looking at all-time personal bests, Schneider ranks 12th. Both Schweizer (14:26.34) and Cranny (14:48.02) have run faster, with their top times coming in the same race in 2020. Schneider is in the second heat, which gives her the advantage of knowing the times from the first heat. Four women in Schneider\u2019s heat have faster personal bests, including 2017 and 2019 world champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Hellen Obiri of Kenya. The heat also features world indoor 1,500-meter record holder Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, who won her country\u2019s Olympic trials in 14:13.02 \u2013 the fastest 5,000 this year. Eilish McColgan of Great Britain (14:28.55) and Cranny also have run faster. The first heat, which includes Schweizer, appears deeper, with three of the 10 fastest women of all-time in Ethiopians Ejgayehu Taye (14:14.09) and Senbere Teferi (14:15.24) and Kenya\u2019s Agnes Jebet Tirop (14:20.68). Also in the first heat is Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, the 2019 world champion in both the 1,500 and 10,000. Hassan, who trains in Park City, Utah, plans to run all three distance events in Tokyo. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, no fans are allowed at competition events, and athletes are undergoing daily COVID testing. Several athletes have tested positive for COVID and will not be able to compete. \u201cWe get COVID tested every morning along with filling out a daily symptom\/health check,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI honestly don\u2019t give it much mental space because stressing or worrying about \u2018what if\u2019 there\u2019s a false positive is wasted energy.\u201d Instead, Schneider is making the most of her Olympic experience. Her Instagram account has photos of her posing at the Olympic rings, thanking Team USA sponsors for the generous supply of gear and swag, and showing the view from her Olympic Village room. \u201cThe village is located on the water with gorgeous views,\u201d she said. On Wednesday after completing an 8-mile run around the Olympic Village, Schneider joined other athletes in a walk-through of Olympic Stadium, which hosted the track events at the 1964 Summer Olympics and was rebuilt in 2015 with seating for over 68,000 spectators. \u201cThe stadium is stunning. Glad I got to see (it) before the actual race so I could get some of that \u2018awe\u2019 of it out,\u201d Schneider said. Schneider traveled to Tokyo with her fiance, Mike Smith, who is also her coach. Smith is not allowed in the athletes\u2019 village because of COVID protocols and is staying in a nearby hotel. The two can get together during the day, which helps with the final workouts before the competition begins. \u201c(Tuesday) afternoon I met Mike at the Team USA High Performance Center which is about 35 minutes from the Olympic Village to do another run and a short workout on the track,\u201d Schneider said. \u201c(Thursday) I\u2019ll do another short run around the Olympic Village in the morning, and then go back to the High Performance Center in the afternoon to do another short run and all my premeet drills and sprints.\u201d Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. 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