Midlander Bryce Hoppel Ends Exciting Olympic Run in Semi-Finals

Midland High graduate Bryce Hoppel's Tokyo Olympics ends in the semi-final round of the men's 800-meter finals.

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, Hoppel finished in fifth place with a time of 1:44.91 but that was not enough to get him into the finals.

Poland and Kenya took the two qualifying spots even though Hoppel was leading through most of the race, but at the straightaway Poland and Kenya started gaining on Hoppel and Mexico and Belgium turned on the afterburners also.

By the time the race got to the finish line, Hoppel came in fifth place behind the aforementioned four country's runners.

Hoppel posted on Twitter after the race: "Wasn’t quite the way I envisioned my first Olympics but luckily we’re not done yet."

Sounds like Hoppel is not ruling out another Olympic run in Paris in 2024 and all of Midland will be behind him if he does run in the next Olympics.

Hoppel, who is only 23 and ranked 7th in the world, automatically advanced to the semi-finals on Saturday when he finished third in his heat.

So now we just look forward to the next Olympic games set to kick off in summer 2024 provided there is no more shut downs because of the coronavirus.

All of Midland and the Permian Basin are proud of Bryce Hoppel and what he accomplished in the Olympic games and wish for continued success in his future meets and in the future qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics.

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