SALEM, Ore. — After the London Olympics in 2012, American racewalker Trevor Barron — at just 19 years old — knew he needed a break.
He had raced to in the 20,000-meter event, just weeks after setting the American record in the event at the Olympic Trials. But the training was time-consuming and lonely. He wanted to get away from the sport.
His break, though, turned from a temporary reprieve into a long-term absence. He effectively disappeared from the sport’s close-knit community for three years, choosing instead to focus on school and pursue other events. He completed a half Ironman and ran a few marathons — including the Colfax Marathon in 2013 where he finished third — before graduating from Colorado College with a degree in computer science in 2014. He went to work as a software engineer for Lockheed Martin in Colorado Springs.
“I really was just sick of training every day, to be honest,” Barron said. “I wanted to do other things. I really enjoy school. I was a little frustrated with how much time I spent training, especially at a long-distance event.”
Then in December, seven months before Thursday’s Olympic Trials 20K, the passion returned. He began training in earnest. The effort, crunched as it was, netted him a second-place finish in 1 hour, 27 minutes, 27.10 seconds — about 7:02 per mile.
But Barron — the man viewed inside the sport as the next great hope in American race walking — will not be competing in Rio de Janeiro, having fallen short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:24:00, which he hasn’t yet met.
“I was hoping to be a little stronger here today, but that’s OK,” said Barron, now 23. “Still working out kinks. I got a couple of red cards and slowed down to finish. I thought I was in shape to do it, but that’s how it goes.”
For the first time in Olympic history, no American men will participate in the 20K at the Olympic Games. John Nunn, a Durango native who won the 20K on Thursday but also fell short of the standard, has reached the qualifying mark only in the 50K race walk and will be in Rio. The American race walkers haven’t medaled in an Olympics since 1972.
Throwing together another event — as often happens for distance runners and sprinters who finish in the top three at the trials but don’t have the Olympic standard — is much harder logistically in race walking. Race walkers typically race once per month.
“The main focus for Trevor the past four years has been finishing school,” said Tim Seaman, Barron’s former coach who qualified two athletes on the women’s side for Rio. “Itap very difficult having such an intense and exceptional program at Colorado College and to be an elite athlete.”
Barron, a Bethel Park, Pa., native, will begin a graduate program at Arizona State in the fall. He’s already moved to Phoenix, and Seaman — who competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics — has coached athletes before who train and do graduate work. Neither ruled out working together in the future.
“From what I saw today, he is so raw,” Seaman said. “The talent is there; he just needs the training and structure.”
The positive news, if there is any, is this: Barron knows that he took his achievement in reaching London four years ago for granted. He thought that if he did walk away, he would have plenty of time to come back. Now he understands what he’s missing.
“I don’t think I internalized how impressive of an event it is,” Barron said of the Olympics. “And maybe, to be honest, it came pretty easy to me last time. Maybe I took that for granted. My coach and others had built up the experience of the Olympics so much that it was almost a disappointment when I went. And I was like, ‘The opening ceremony was cool, but I wouldn’t train four years just to go to the opening ceremony.’ I think I have a better perspective now. These are the best people from around the world. Just enjoy this. It’s incredible.”
