Fiona O’Keeffe, a member of PUMA Elite Running Team and the reigning U.S. Olympic Trials marathon champion who ran 2:22:10 in her debut in the event Feb. 3 in Orlando, Fla., to achieve the fastest performance in meet history, joins DyeStat’s Erik Boal to discuss making her Olympic debut Aug. 11 in Paris. O’Keeffe, 26, earned multiple All-America honors at Stanford, in addition to capturing a silver medal for the U.S. in the 5,000 meters at the 2022 NACAC Championships in the Bahamas. She reflects on the recovery period following her victory in Florida, and how grateful O’Keeffe was to be able to celebrate the achievement with family, friends and teammates. O’Keeffe, a graduate of Davis Senior High in California, also examines how significant the support has been from her local community and how meaningful it will be to have her high school coach Bill Gregg, in addition to family and friends, watching her compete in Paris. She also expresses gratitude for not only the coaching of PUMA Elite Running Team mentors Amy Cragg and Alistair Cragg, but also for sharing their extensive insight and perspective following several Olympic experiences. O’Keeffe explains how beneficial it has been to learn from Amy Cragg, who finished ninth in the Olympic marathon in 2016, ahead of her debut in February, as well as during the 190-day period between racing at the Olympic Trials and competing in Paris. She revisits being able to represent the U.S. in the 5-kilometer race and finishing 11th at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in October in Latvia, in addition to placing 12th in November at the B.A.A. Half Marathon in Boston, before shifting her focus to training for her first marathon. O’Keeffe shares the decision to only participate in one race since qualifying for the Olympics, and how much she enjoyed competing at the Night of the 10,000 PBs in May in London, finishing second to British standout Megan Keith by a 31:03.02 to 31:03.46 margin. She also discusses choosing not to compete in June at the Mastercard New York Mini 10K as a result of a sore calf, with O’Keeffe preparing for her final significant stretch of marathon training before traveling to France. O’Keeffe speaks about how valuable it has been to train in Mammoth, Calif., with Australia’s Patrick Tiernan and British athlete Patrick Dever, who are both competing in the men’s marathon Aug. 10 in Paris. She also analyzes the connection 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor has to the Mammoth community as well. O’Keeffe highlights the inspiration gained from 1984 Olympic marathon winner Joan Benoit Samuelson, along with 2021 Tokyo bronze medalist Molly Seidel as well as Kastor, and shares how much she looks forward to being teammates with fellow American athletes Emily Sisson and Dakotah Lindwurm in Paris.