Galen Rupp competes in the men's marathon at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Sambodromo on Aug. 21, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
For someone with hardly any marathon experience, Galen Rupp sure seems to have the hang of the grueling 26.2-mile race.
In only his second competitive marathon, the 30-year-old distance runner made his way around the wet, soggy course at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in 2:10:05, claiming an Olympic bronze medal and setting a new personal best time.
Rupp's first marathon came at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track and Field in February, when he won and qualified for his third Olympic team. At the 2012 Games in London, Rupp earned silver in the 10,000-meter for the first U.S. medal in the event in 48 years.
His Rio bronze is the first men’s marathon medal for Team USA since 2004, when Meb Keflezighi won the silver medal at the Athens Games.
Rupp finished 1:21 behind gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya. Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa took silver with a time of 2:09:54.
Keflezighi, a four-time Olympian, also competed in Sunday’s race for his last competitive marathon. He was unable to rekindle the magic he had in Athens, finishing 33rd with a time of 2:16:46. Fellow American Jared Ward, from Kaysville, Utah, helped the U.S. secure a second top-10 finish. Ward ran a personal best and placed sixth in 2:11:30.
The bronze-medal finish marked USA Track & Field's 32nd medal of the Rio Games -- the country's highest at the Games since winning 35 in 1932.
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