Bor Takes Seventh In Steeplechase Olympic Final

In his first Team USA competition, Hillary Bor (U.S. Army) finished seventh in the finals of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics 3,000m steeplechase on Wednesday to set a personal best of 8:22.74.

Off of an early Olympic Record pace, Bor was patient to run in mid pack, but after coming through 1600-meters at 4:21.30, moved to the front of the chase pack working to close the gap on teammate Even Jager and eventual champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya.

The fast pace would take its toll, as Bor would slow finishing in 9th-place, but with two disqualifications in front of him was moved up to 7th-place in the final results.

USA teammate Jager would take silver eclipsing the Olympic Record along with Kipruto, while Don Cabral finished behind Bor in 8th clinching the final team scoring spot for team USA. The trio amassed 10-points for Team USA in team scoring, bettering all scored events for America with the exception of the shot put (15-points), the triple jump (15-points) and the long jump (13-points).

An unlikely Olympian, Bor entered the U.S. Olympic Trials barely ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. for the year with a seasonal and personal best of 8:27.01, and surprised with a runner-up finish and an Olympic birth at 8:24.10.

Bor looks to finish his breakthrough season with one final steeplechase at the final Diamond League AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels on September 9th, as well as the U.S. 5k Road Race Championship hosted by the CVS Downtown 5k in Providence, R.I. on September 18th.

Bor, who is an active duty sergeant in the U.S. Army, posted the Olympic qualifying mark in May while working his full-time job as a financial manager with his unit at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. Since qualifying for the Olympic Trials in July, he has been attached to the Army’s World Class Athlete Program and has enjoyed the ability to train as a full-time athlete. Without a sponsor, aside from his job as a financial manager for the Army, Bor exemplifies the amateur ideal of the Olympics.

Bor has two older brothers who also serve in the Army through which all three earned U.S. citizenship, with the eldest, Julius, currently on deployment in Afghanistan.