Galen Rupp qualifies for IAAF World Championships

Rupp (L) with coach Salazar (C) and Mo Farah

Rupp, who is training under coach Alberto Salazar, participated in the U.S.A qualifiers for the IAAF World Championship games to be held this August at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing, China.

The 29-year-old has qualified for in both the 5,000 and 10,000m categories. Rupp and coach Salazar both stand accused of involvement in doping; Rupp is one of many athletes who train under Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project, which features a fair number of known faces from the marathon world. Some of these athletes also publicly spoke out against Salazar, lending credence to claims that he was involved in doping.

Investigations by the BBC unearthed information that strongly suggests Salazar was involved in doping several athletes who were training under him, among them Rupp and British Olympic icon Mo Farah. Steve Magness, who was Salazar’s second-in-command at the programme, told the BBC Panorama crew he had evidence that Rupp was being doped to enhance his performance from the age of 16 – when he was still in high school.

Salazar and Rupp both denied all allegations, with the former issuing a strongly-worded 12,000-word letter to the public claiming his innocence.

At the recently-concluded qualifiers, Rupp won the 10,000m event outright, but came third in the 5,000m event, won by athlete Benjamin True. His results mean that he has qualified for both events at the world championships in two months’ time.

The World Athletics Championships will kick off on the 22^nd of August in the Chinese capital, Beijing.