Park City distance runner Grant Fisher recently won the Paris Diamond League 5K race at Stade Charléty.
The Diamond League is considered to be the highest professional track and field league.
Fisher finished with a winning time of 12:54.80 in the race on June 28 The time was the slower of his two 5K times this season, running a 12:49.61 in a fifth-place finish at the Oslo Diamond League stop on June 10.
This time, Fisher topped Jacob Krop of Kenya and Andreas Almgren of Sweden, who finished with times of 12:55.22 and 12:55.38, respectively.
Later that week, on July 3, Fisher raced in the Eugene Diamond League 2 mile in Oregon, finishing third with a time of 8:10.96, 83 seconds behind U.S. runner Parker Wolfe’s first place finish.
The 5K on June 28 marks an unofficial midway point in Fisher’s season. He has also raced an indoor 2K and the New York City half marathon. He will focus on racing more Diamond League races and the USA Track & Field Outdoor and Para National Championships, held July 23-26 in New York City.
Fisher traveled to Eugene, Oregon, right after Paris to race in Friday’s Eugene Diamond League 5K.
“I felt fantastic,” Fisher said after his win in Paris. “That’s a really prestigious meet. A really, really tough one to win. There are a lot of good athletes in the field.”
Fisher said Parisian fans turned out in force for the competition. He believes they’re still riding a track and field high from the 2024 Olympics, when he won the 5 and 10K bronze medals.
As he developed another great memory in Paris, he also built confidence for the second half of the season.
“Athletes like to go back to places they have good memories of,” Fisher said. “So going back to Paris was really fun for me. … They treat the athletes really well, and the fans are into it. They’re chanting and kind of going crazy the whole race. So it’s just a fun atmosphere. When you get an electric crowd, you get a lot of athletes that figure that they’re going to run fast. It kind of is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Fisher said he is enjoying competing against the world’s best and trying out different racing formats like the 2K and half marathon. Without an international championship on the line this season, he doesn’t feel much pressure to focus on peaking at certain races. The national championships don’t qualify runners for anything this season, so some runners are skipping it.
Fisher will give himself three weeks to come back to train in Park City before the national championships and some more European Diamond League races.
“I’ll have been gone for about a month by the time I get back,” Fisher said. “It’s fun to be overseas, go to new places and race in Europe, but after a while it is nice to go back to home base and feel at home. … This time in Park City will kind of be a nice reset and grounding time where I can relax and then make another push in the late season.”
With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics a little over two years out, Fisher has yet to decide whether he’ll race on the track or the roads. The win in Paris is another reminder of the track speed he still has in the tank.
“As athletes get older, they kind of lose that track speed and ability to kick,” Fisher said. “So naturally people transition to longer road events. … I think I’ll do a road race this winter, and that’ll give me some more information about when to transition to the roads.”