In his first steeplechase in nearly a year, Hillary Bor returned to Rabat, the site of his season ending injury last year, and earned an Olympic Qualifying mark.
Bor finished the race in 8:13.30, a second and a half faster than the necessary time to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris (8:15.00). He finished sixth in the race, nearly four seconds behind the winner, Tokyo Olympic Champion Soufiane El Bakkali.
At this time, Bor is the only American male steepler with a qualifying time. Kenneth Rooks is the next nearest, just 0.08 seconds off, with a time of 8:15.08 that he ran at the Track Fest on May 11.
At the 2023 Rabat Diamond League, Hillary landed awkwardly on the last water jump which resulted in a broken foot. Following the injury, he posted to Instagram, “The good news is, I don’t need any surgery and will be out for 4 to 6 weeks. I am thankful I have been very lucky for 8yrs and never had any issue. The Army [taught] me to be resilient and always hunt the good stuff. Will take this 6 weeks chasing my kids around and recover. See you when I get back.”
Merhawi Keflezighi, Bor’s agent and HAWI Management President, said, “We are so proud of how Hillary navigated his comeback from injury. Over the last year, Hillary has done a great job balancing his hunger to be back in competition with his patience to secure a complete recovery.”
That race was his last of 2023, however since the beginning of 2024, Bor has been putting in the work on both the roads and in cross country, having finished third at the USATF 10 mile championships and second at the Gate River Run.
