EUGENE, Ore. — With its 28 barriers, seven water jumps and countless opportunities for disaster, the steeplechase needs no added degree of difficulty. Yet it found an extra layer in the rain, which came here to Hayward Field in the early evening Thursday and continued unabated through the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Not that the rain really matters, in the grand scheme of things. The seven laps through the circuit are punctuated by ankle-deep steps through those water hazards, after all, so it’s impossible to finish the steeplechase dry in any weather conditions.