Oklahoma State Middle Distance Runner Gabija Galvydyte Earns Bid to Summer Olympics
On Sunday, Oklahoma State track and field athlete Gabija Galvydyte punched her ticket to the Paris Olympics in August.
QUEEN G IS HEADING TO THE OLYMPICS 👸
— Oklahoma State XC/T&F (@run4okstate) July 7, 2024
Gabija Galvydyte makes it into the 800 Meter field on world rankings points and will be making her Olympic debut next month in Paris!#GoPokes I #OlympiansMadeHere pic.twitter.com/4WCygViKNP
Galvydyte earned a spot on Lithuania's Olympic roster due to her spot in the World Athletics rankings. The Jonava, Lithuania, product is No. 44 on the world rankings with 1,224 points, tied with Juliette Whittaker of the United States.
To rank track and field athletes, World Athletics takes into account the result and prestige of each event an athlete competes in. Athletes can qualify for the Olympics by landing in the top three of their nation's championship events or based on their World Athletics ranking.
Galvydyte's qualification for the Paris Games comes just over a month after the Cowgirls' star middle distance runner medaled in the 800-meter dash at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, OR, for the second consecutive season.
As a junior in 2023, the Olympic qualifier won the Big 12, earned All-American honors and placed second in the country in the 800. Galvydyte finished off her senior season in Stillwater with a third place finish in the 800-meter dash on June 6.
The Pokes' standout ran a personal-best 2:00.23 in the 800-meter dash in Eugene last month to earn a bronze medal, finishing just six hundredths of a second behind Stanford sophomore Roisin Willis and six tenths of a second behind Whittaker.
Galvydyte will be joined in Paris next month by former Oklahoma State athletes Chase Jackson, Ieva Gumbs, Ariadni Adamopoulou and Jacob Fincham-Dukes, who have all punched their tickets to the Summer Olympics.
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