Former Kansas University runner Charlie Gruber will try to earn a trip to the Athens Olympics on Sunday in Belgium.
Gruber qualified for the U.S. Olympics team in the 1,500-meter run earlier this month in Sacramento, Calif., but he won’t be allowed to go to Athens unless he can match the qualifying standard of 3:36.00.
Gruber fell short in a meet in Stockholm last weekend. Running near the back of the pack for much of race, Gruber made a move with 600 meters to go to gain some ground on the leaders, but finished a distant fourth in 3:38.02.
Gruber will try again Sunday at the KBC Night of Athletics Grand Prix II meet in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. He also is slated to run Aug. 6 in the Weltklasse Zurch meet in Switzerland and Aug. 8 in the Munich triangular. He has until Aug. 9 to reach the qualifying standard.