US distance runner in Paris with family in heart after leaving Eritrea as a teen for new life

FILE - Weini Kelati celebrates after winning the women's 10,000-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, June 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore.

FILE - Weini Kelati celebrates after winning the women's 10,000-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, June 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)


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SAINT-DENIS, France — American distance runner Weini Kelati earned a spot to the Paris Games on the same track where 10 years earlier she made the decision to leave Eritrea and seek asylum in the United States. Kelati traveled to Eugene, Oregon, as a teenager for the world junior championships and, without telling her friends or family, missed her flight back home to Eritrea to begin a new life. Kelati was taken in by relatives and went to high school in Virginia before competing at the University of New Mexico. She's headed to Paris with her family in her heart. She runs Friday.

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