Heel injury sidelines Luchini Ellsworth native sits out of attempt to qualify for Olympics

Louie Luchini’s Achilles’ heel is proving to be, quite literally, his Achilles’ heel.

Ongoing complications from his year-long struggle with an Achilles’ injury contributed to Luchini’s decision to pull out of the 5-kilometer run at the KBC Night of Athletics Grand Prix II meet Saturday in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Luchini was attempting to run the Olympic A standard of 13 minutes, 21.50 seconds and secure a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

In an e-mail message after the race, Luchini said that he felt sluggish and that his Achilles’ was more painful than it usually is when he races.

Ellsworth native Luchini was one of four athletes nominated for the U.S. team after last month’s Olympic trials. Those athletes were not guaranteed spots on the team because they had not previously run the A standard. Countries are not permitted to send more than one athlete to the games unless all of them have run the A standard.

Two athletes – trials winner Tim Broe and runner-up Jonathon Riley – have now run the A standard and secured their positions on the team. That leaves Luchini and the other nominated athlete, Jorge Torres, chasing the A standard.

Torres was in Luchini’s race on Saturday, but fell well short of the A standard with his 13:39.41, 18th-place finish. Both have until Aug. 9 to race again and achieve the standard. If both achieve the standard, Torres would likely be selected because he finished ahead of Luchini at the trials.

Mushir Salim Jawher of Bahrain won the race in 13:03.09. Eleven men ran faster than the A standard. The race also featured the fastest 5k run by an American this year. Dan Browne, who has already made the U.S. team at the marathon and 10-kilometers, clocked 13:16.02 for eighth place. Browne did not contest the 5k at the trials.

The 23-year-old Luchini has endured a frustrating year. He collected NCAA All-American honors in cross country and outdoor track and helped Stanford win the NCAA cross country title, but the Achilles, which he injured at the end of the 2003 outdoor track season, has haunted him nearly every day.