Galen Rupp's first competitive marathon got him to the Olympics. His second won him a medal.
The 30-year-old from Oregon looked right at home among the sport's traditional powers Sunday, running toward the front all day and sticking in a group with Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa into the last five miles as the field fell away. Rupp couldn't hang as the pace continued to increase, falling behind as the other two and finally Kipchoge alone accelerated away, but the work he had done was enough to get him on the podium.
Kipchoge ended up with gold in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 44 seconds, with Lilesa taking silver in 2:09:54 and Rupp bronze in 2:10:05.