After Review, Hassan Mead Advances to 5K Final

Published by TwinCities.com on August 18, 2016

After a long, drama-filled day, Hassan Mead will run in the 5,000-meter final at the Olympics.

Mead, a Gophers alum and Minneapolis South High School grad, was in position to finish in the top five of his first-round race on Wednesday morning to automatically advance to the final with about 250 meters to go when he was tripped up and fell to the track.

He got up and finished 13th in his heat, which wasn’t good enough to advance.

Mead filed a protest to be pushed through to the final, which was initially denied. But his fortunes changed on Wednesday night, when the International Association of Athletics Federation announced that, after examining new video evidence, Mead would indeed be moved into the final. The race will be run Saturday night in Rio.