PARIS, France (NEXSTAR/AP) — Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali defended his title in men’s steeplechase, finishing in 8 minutes, 6.05 seconds for a .36-second win over America’s Kenneth Rooks.
Rooks had the lead heading into the homestretch and was looking to pull off a massive upset, but El Bakkali overtook him.
Rooks still beat his personal best by almost 9 seconds to capture the second silver over three Olympics in the event for America.
Rooks is from College Place, WA and is a student-athlete at Brigham Young University.
At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Rooks was the sole US athlete to reach the men’s 3000m steeplechase final on his debut. In the preliminary round, he notably outpaced El Bakkali. He finished 10th in the final.
US athlete Evan Jager ran exactly 1 second behind gold in Rio in 2016, finishing with a time of 8:04.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.