Darke County native wins 800-meter run at Olympic Trials, earns spot in Tokyo games

A Darke County native and Tri-Village High School graduate will be returning to the Olympics.

Clayton Murphy won the 800-meter run Monday at the U.S. Olympic trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. to claim a spot on the U.S. team heading to Tokyo.

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Murphy, who was the bronze medalist at the Rio Games in 2016, finished in 1 minute, 43.17 seconds.

The pandemic gave him an extra year to practice, after Japan and the International Olympic Committee postponed the 2020 Olympics until 2021.

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“I kind of used that time to focus on different things in my training,” Murphy said. “I think it really made me better as an athlete going into this year, and that was my build up toward the qualifier.”

Xenia grad, Daniel Michalski, finished third in the 3000-meter Men’s Steeplechase at the first round of the trials with a time of 8:22.03.

Michalski will compete Friday at 7:42 p.m. in the finals for a spot on the US Olympic team.

The Tokyo Olympics are set to take place July 23 through August 8.

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