Twenty-four hundredths of a second. For most people, that’s the time it takes to blink your eye, but for UW alumna and Team Canada runner Hilary Stellingwerff, that’s how much time it took for her to be on the outside looking in to the women’s 1500-meter run semifinal at the 2016 Olympics.
Stellingwerff, 35, put up a time of 4:12.00 and finished seventh in her heat. The top six finishers from each heat, as well as six time-qualifying spots would advance to the semifinal, but the two-time Olympian narrowly missed those time-qualifiers as well. The Sarnia, Ontario native ended up finishing 31st on the world’s biggest stage.
Stellingwerff is a 2004 Wisconsin graduate who won the 2004 Big Ten title in the mile and placed in the top ten at the NCAA championships that same year.
