Toyota
USA Track & Field
  • Disciplines
  • Events
  • Programs
  • Resources
  • Associations
  • Safe Sport
  • USATF Fantasy Pick'Em
  • News
  • Membership
  • Clubs
  • Event Insurance / Sanctions
  • Shop
  • Watch
  • USATF Connect Login
  • Sign in Create an account
    USATF Connect Profile
    Sign out
Back to News

April 08, 2020

Jake Riley - Q&A

Athletes are still keeping busy, but finding time to answer a few questions for us to help their fans get to know them better. This is our fifth installment with 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon runner-up, Jake Riley.

USATF: What is your favorite competition memory so far?
Riley: At the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon, realizing, 20 meters from the finish line, in the middle of a roaring crowd, that I was really going to make my first Olympic team.

USATF: How do you overcome adversity, especially now when things are so NOT normal?
Riley: Focus on the things I can control (sometimes requires a bit of willful denial), get a schedule and stick to it, and make sure I have something else going on that I can lose myself in (I have a part time job and I'm in graduate school). Also, make sure I've got a binge-able show with a lot of seasons I can veg out to when I need a break.
 
USATF: What is your favorite recipe/movie/music?
Riley: Hoisin stir-fry bowls / Baby Driver / 90’s hip-hop.
 
USATF: What’s your favorite exercise you can do at home, at a hotel or at the airport?
Riley: Drive through - secure one end of a power band to something rigid (door, hand rail, etc.), put the other around your waist. Stand as if you were on the starting line, then drive forward in a controlled manner making sure to activate the glute and to come up on the big toe towards the end. 
 
USATF: What do you think is the most misunderstood aspect of your event?
Riley: Why is it easier with a pacemaker? If you want to run "x", just go out and do that.
 
USATF: What do you remember about your first competition, and when was it? 
Riley: City cross country race, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1997 (we lived in Dunedin from '96 to 2000). I was mad they wouldn't let us race barefoot, the race uniform was cotton shorts and a polo t-shirt, it was around the campus of the Otago Boys high school, and I won. I wore the medal to school for the whole next week.
 
USATF: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Riley: A policeman - marine biologist - basketball player. The classic triple threat.
 
USATF: Who do you admire the most in your event?
Riley: Desi Linden - She's really, really good, but also works really hard to get that way and stay that way. I admire her level of consistency and her grittiness in racing so much, and then with all that she's an easy going, funny, cool person with very little ego - I think she's the model for what a professional athlete should be.
 
USATF: Lastly, name one thing you’re grateful for.
Riley: Nurses and doctors.

Help Develop our Nation’s Best and Grow the Sport.Become a USATF Member today

  • Join Today

Official Sponsors

Official Suppliers

Official Technology Partners

Official Medical Network Partner

  • Contact Us
  • About USATF
  • Governance
  • Media Center
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
Copyright 2025 USA Track & Field  Privacy Policy  Website Terms of Use  Ad Choices