Isaac Updike
Things in Nice went nice for Isaac Updike on Saturday, when the steeplechaser from Ketchikan delivered a personal best in his final race before next month’s USA Track & Field National Championships.
Updike, 31, clocked 8:17.47 to finish second in France behind former Olympic and world champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya (8:17.16) at the Meeting Nakaia, a bronze-level competition on the World Athletics circuit.
Updike trimmed .27 of a second off his previous best for the 3,000-meter distance replete with barriers and a water jump – his previous fastest steeple was the 8:17.74 he ran in 2021 – and wrapped a successful business trip. He’s the fastest steeplechaser in Alaska history.
Updike reported conditions were humid – “I think it was close to 85 or 90 percent.’’
“As an Alaskan, my body is not super efficient in that type of weather,’’ Updike texted. “I am happy to come away with a small (personal record) and another good race down to the wire.’’
Updike a week earlier generated a PB in the 1,500 meters when he ran 3:39.84 at the Flanders Cup in Belgium to finish sixth.
Despite a malfunction with wavelights that likely would have helped the field run a faster pace in Nice, the race was still relatively fast. Updike was among six guys who ran PBs in a field of 13 finishers.
Kipruto, 28, the winner and owner of an 8:00.12 PB, is a steeplechase legend. He won the Olympic title in 2016 in Rio. He owns five world championship medals in the steeplechase – two golds, two silvers and a bronze.
Updike is enjoying the best training and racing of his career heading into the national championships July 6-9 in Eugene, Ore., where the country’s qualifiers for the world championships (Budapest, Hungary – Aug. 19-27) will be determined. He won the steeple at the Raleigh Relays in March in 8:25.09, defended his steeple title at the Penn Relays in April in 28 (in lousy conditions – rain and wind) and finished second at the USATF Grand Prix in Los Angeles in May in 8:17.96, the third-fastest time of his career.
Updike’s 8:17.47 on Saturday makes him the 21st-fastest steepler in the world this year and fourth-fastest among Americans. Among Americans, he trails Hillary Bor (8:11.28), Duncan Hamilton (8:16.23) and Anthony Rotich (8:16.27).
That standing puts Updike solidly in the hunt for a podium finish at nationals.
Updike is based in Flagstaff, Ariz., and sponsored by Under Armour, and he remains affiliated with the Empire Elite Track Club.
Updike, a former NAIA national champion at Eastern Oregon, in 2021 finished fifth at the Olympic Trials.