Mizzou Alumna, Karissa Schweizer, Heading Back to the Olympics

With the 2024 Paris Olympics just over a week away, the athletes who qualified are now set in stone. One of them is the American long-distance runner, Karissa Schweizer. She is a former Mizzou athlete, and was an olympian in the 2020 Tokyo games.

Schweizer was among the best long-distance runners in the world, competing in both the 5000 and 10,000 meter runs during the 2020 Olympics. In those events, she finished 11th and 12th in the world, but Schweizer is determined to place higher in 2024. However, the road wasn't always easy for Schweizer to return to the Olympics.

After qualifying for the Paris games, Schweizer was overcome with emotions. "I've been down so many times that I honestly never thought I'd be really, truly back here. This is just such a confidence booster for me." You can tell how much this opportunity means to her.

Schweizer grew up in Urbandale, Iowa where she was born into a family of athletes. Both of her parents had successful track and field careers collegiately at Mankato State. They had an impact on her aspirations, and despite not winning any titles in high school, she worked her way into a Division-I offer from Mizzou.

Every year at the University of Missouri, Schweizer continued improving her distance running. She went onto win multiple NCAA championships, and made a name for herself in the sport. Coming out of college, she signed professionally with the Bowerman Track Club in 2018.

By 2020, Schweizer was setting all kinds of records, ranging from personal bests to world record times. When the Tokyo Olympics came around that summer, she managed to qualify right behind one of her teammates, at an event held in Eugene, Oregon.

Despite all the success, she tore her achilies and ended up getting surgery in the fall. Schweizer mentioned that she didn't know if she'd every reach that level of competition again. Things weren't easy on the former olympian, and she went back to the drawing board, beginning to work even harder.

In the 2024 Olympic qualifiers, again held in Eugene, Oregon, Schweizer managed a third place finish. This was good enough to secure her second appearance in the Olympics, where she will represent her country on the biggest stage once again.