Ostrander misses world championship steeplechase finals by less than one second

Competing on the biggest stage of her life, Alaska’s Allie Ostrander turned in a personal-best performance in the women’s steeplechase but missed the finals — and the Olympic qualifying time — by less than one second Friday at the World Track and Field Championships in Doha, Qatar.

The top 15 runners from three heats held Friday advanced to Monday’s finals. Ostrander, 22 and a recent Boise State graduate, finished with the 17th-fastest time.

“My expectations for the race were definitely higher,” she told reporters. “I wish that I could have done more.”

Ostrander finished the 3,000-meter race in 9 minutes, 30.85 seconds. She needed to run 9:30.0 or faster to meet the Olympic qualifying time and 9:30.13 or faster to advance to the finals.

“Pretty lukewarm,” Ostrander said when asked to evaluate her world championship debut. “I was within a second of the Olympic A standard and I was within a few seconds of having a chance at the finals. (I seem) to be so close, but still looking in.”

Ostrander shaved more than half a second off her previous-best time of 9:31.44 to place seventh in her heat. The top three finishers in each of the three heats automatically advanced, as did the six fastest runners not in the top three. Five runners from Ostrander’s heat made the cut.

A Kenai Central graduate who won three straight NCAA steeplechase championships, Ostrander said she made some strategic errors that likely cost her a spot in the finals.

“I didn’t run it super well,” she said. “I got behind people a lot (and) I had to stutter a lot before hurdles, and I think if I had run a little differently I could have had that couple of seconds and really had a chance at the final. But, you know, it’s over and done with it.”

If she had run more to the outside, she said, she would have had a clearer view of the barriers and might have been able to hurdle them more smoothly.

“There were a few times where I almost came to a stop before a barrier,” she said, “… and that adds a couple of tenths (of a second) every time.”

Ostrander, whose parents traveled from Alaska to Doha for the meet, was one of three Americans in the race.

The other two made it to the finals — 2017 world champion Emma Coburn (9:23.40) and 2017 world runner-up Courtney Frerichs (9:18.42). A fourth American, Colleen Quigley, withdrew the day before the race with a hip injury.

Posting the top qualifying time Friday was world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya, who won Ostrander’s heat in 9:18.01. Chepkoech set the world record of 8:44.32 last season.

Competition was held inside the air-conditioned Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Outside the stadium, daytime temperatures hit 100 degrees, and the humidity was high. The women’s marathon was scheduled to start at midnight Friday to spare runners from the heat of the day.

“Just going on a normal run outside, it’s sort of like you’re submerged underwater but the water is, like, boiling and you’re halfway cooked,” Ostrander said.