EUGENE, OR – Former University of South Dakota pole vaulter Chris Nilsen qualified for the Tokyo Olympics Monday, finishing first at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Nilsen, who is ranked fifth in the world, cleared 19 feet, four and a quarter inches on his first attempt to win the United States championship. He made three attempts at 19 feet, eight and a quarter inches.
Nilsen, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, is the third USD athlete to qualify for the Olympics. One is Nilsen’s vault coach with the Coyotes, Derek Miles, who won a bronze medal in 2008 and also made the Olympic Games in 2004 and 2012. The other was decathlete Eugene Vidal in 1920.
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