What Olympic Hangover? After Career Year in 2024, Grant Fisher Is Already Thinking About How to Improve in 2025

(This article will go behind the Supporters Club paywall after 24 hours. Be sure to join the SC visit LRC every day so you don’t miss any content)

Grant Fisher has heard about the Olympic hangover. The affliction is common among the world’s best runners around this time every four years, a search for meaning and purpose now that the event that was meant to define their lives has come and gone. Like many hangovers, it is preceded by a celebration, and Fisher did plenty of that in the three months following the 2024 Olympics, where he earned bronze medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. He toasted his medals with the friends and family that made the trip to Paris to watch him compete. His hometown of Grand Blanc, Mich., threw a parade for him. He was honored at a Detroit Lions game, a Utah Jazz game, and a Utah Hockey Club game.

But for Fisher, the time for celebration has come and gone.

“That was really fun,” Fisher says of his post-Olympic tour, “but by the end of it, I was ready to get back on the grind. There’s some people that talk about the post-Olympic slump, kind of hard to get motivation and stuff. And I think that applies for people that win a gold medal. If you win gold, it’s like, Man, what else is there to do now, I’m the best in the world.

“But I never had that feeling. There were two guys better than me in both events. So there’s still a carrot out in front of me…At no point did I feel the lack of motivation.”

Still, it is worth appreciating what Fisher has already achieved. When he earned bronze in the Olympic 10,000 in August, joining Lewis Tewanima (1912), Billy Mills (1964), and Galen Rupp (2012) as the only Americans to medal in that event, he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. As Fisher jogged his lap of honor around the Stade de France, American flag draped around his shoulders, he took time to appreciate all of the steps and missteps of his running career, how hard he had worked to arrive at that moment. Eight days later, he took another lap of honor after another bronze in the 5,000 — the first American ever to medal in both events in their career, let alone a single Olympics.

Fisher is also the American record holder at 3,000 meters (7:25.47), 5,000 meters (12:46.96), and 10,000 meters (26:33.84). He says it still feels odd to see those times next to his name and know that no American has ever run faster.

“It’s a kind of a pinch-me feeling,” Fisher says. “I didn’t expect to be this good.”

But Fisher tries not to dwell on his past accomplishments, mighty as they may be.

 ”I’m sure sometimes that can be frustrating for the people around me, that there’s always the next thing to chase,” Fisher says. “But I mean, that’s what makes people good at this level. You’re just wired that way.”

Trying not to change a winning formula

Fisher made a number of changes from 2023 to 2024 in an attempt to optimize every variable of his training. He moved from Eugene, Ore., to Park City, Utah. He increased the frequency of workouts but scaled back the intensity. He incorporated more threshold training. Most notably, he changed coaches, leaving Jerry Schumacher after four years to reunite with his high school coach, Mike Scannell.

Switching from the Bowerman Track Club to a one-man training group under Scannell, who commutes to workouts from his home in Phoenix, gave Fisher an unprecedented level of control over his training. Scannell writes all of the workouts, but every session is designed solely around Fisher, and it is easy to incorporate Fisher’s feedback in real time.

Fisher and Scannell know their program works. The 2024 season is proof of that. Now, it is about fine-tuning those variables, to see if they can shave off another second or two without completely overhauling the system that took Fisher to the Olympic podium.

Fisher won US titles in the 5,000 and 10,000 in 2024 (Kevin Morris photo)

One change both Fisher and Scannell would like to make in 2025 is to add a training partner(s) to their group. Last year, Fisher would occasionally link up with Matthew Centrowitz for workouts, but he largely trained alone. Now Centrowitz is retired, and Fisher says he is “actively looking” for someone to push him in training.

It sounds like a dream job — come train alongside America’s best long distance runner! — but there are a few requirements. You need to move to Utah. You need to be a world-class runner; Fisher says he wants someone that’s “really, really good.” And you cannot be an asshole.

“As of right now, my attitude is I’d rather continue to be alone than add the wrong person,” Fisher says. “I really would like it to be a good fit, both in performance and in personality.”

The bottom line: Fisher is 27 years old. At this stage of his career, he has to be sure that every decision he makes is going to make him a better runner.

“If I’m going to start training with someone, it would be someone that I think — I mean, to be selfish — would benefit me,” Fisher says. “Because I don’t really see a reason to add someone right now when I’m in [my] prime years that wouldn’t objectively benefit me.”

Cheptegei to Fisher: “You’ve got it next year”

In recent years, world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda has been nearly unbeatable in the 10,000 meters, winning four of the last five global titles on offer. But Cheptegei said that his latest gold at the 2024 Olympics would be his last as he will be moving up to the roads in 2025. And he has already anointed a successor. After crossing the finish line in Paris, Cheptegei put his arm around Fisher and told him, “You’ve got it next year.”

Fisher, who was just .32 of a second behind Cheptegei in that race, appreciated the praise, but knows that if he is to win gold at next year’s World Championships in Tokyo, he is going to have to earn it.

“Obviously that doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to happen,” Fisher says. “Nothing’s guaranteed in this sport. To be fair, I wasn’t even second in the race.”

Keeping the likes of Berihu Aregawi and Selemon Barega at bay is no small feat, but Fisher faces an even greater challenge in the 5,000 meters, where anyone looking to claim the gold medal must slay a fire-breathing dragon named Jakob Ingebrigtsen. With an unparalleled combination of strength and speed, the 24-year-old Norwegian has claimed three straight global golds in the event and has not lost a 5,000 in more than five years. His most recent victory was also his most dominant, with Ingebrigtsen winning gold in Paris by 1.38 seconds — the largest winning margin since Kenenisa Bekele‘s legendary 2008 victory.

“He looks unbeatable in the 1500 as well, but there’s cracks in the armor there,” Scannell says. “I will agree with you, that dude, he’s an animal…But I think there are different race strategies that you can employ to beat Ingebrigtsen, and clearly Cole Hocker used one, and it worked. He is beatable.”

The way Scannell sees it, he has two projects. The first is to make Fisher as good as he can possibly be. He already knows how he wants to attack that project.

Scannell likes to view races in blocks. At the Olympics, he was pleased with Fisher’s final block. In the 10,000 meters, nobody had a faster final 400 meters than Fisher (54.7). In the 5,000 meters, Fisher went from 9th to 3rd over the final 300m thanks to a 53.5 last lap (second only to Ingebrigtsen’s 53.2). But the fact that Fisher — who, to be fair, already had a hard 10,000 in his legs — was in 9th on the final lap of a race was a problem. Scannell’s aim for 2025 is to improve Fisher’s middle block — from 10% of the way through the race to 90% of the way through the race.

“I don’t ever have a race strategy where somebody gets dropped,” Scannell says. “…Being very, very efficient at a very high rate of speed, that’s what we’re working on.”

Scannell’s second project is devising a race strategy to beat Ingebrigtsen. He is still surprised that the Olympic final went out as slowly as it did — 8:17 through 3000 meters, or 13:49 pace. He had expected someone — perhaps Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet, who had run 12:36 earlier that summer (#2 in history) — to force a faster pace early on to string out the massive 22-person final. Instead, nothing really happened until Gebrhiwet’s big move to the front with 600m to go.

“The question,” Scannell says, “is, why wasn’t it different?”

It may be that there is no winning strategy in a championship 5,000 against a guy who can run 3:26 for 1500 and 7:17 for 3000. But allowing the pace to go slow (and yes, in 2024, a winning time of 13:13 is considered slow) is not working. Scannell, Fisher, and the rest of the world have nine months to come up with a new approach.

Planning a season around Grand Slam Track

Fisher’s biggest goal for 2025 is the World Championships in Tokyo, but that meet does not begin until September 13. With the qualifying standard already in hand for the 10,000 meters, Fisher had some options when it came to mapping out his racing calendar for next year. He is a believer in building up for the indoor season and hitting a few races hard, so he will do that once again in 2025: he is planning on racing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on February 2 and again at the Millrose Games six days later in New York in the 3000m against Olympic 1500 champ Cole Hocker.

Fisher also seriously considered making his half marathon debut in Houston on January 19 but determined the timing would not work. Houston is less than three weeks before Millrose, and Fisher decided he would rather spend the winter training to be great at one event rather than good at two.

“You can’t simultaneously be in half marathon optimal shape and 3k optimal shape,” Fisher says. “So I’ve leaned against it.”

Kevin Morris photo

Come spring, Fisher is signed as a Racer with Grand Slam Track, which means he will be doubling in the 3000/5000 at each of the four meets, beginning with the first event in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 4-6. Because of his GST commitments, Scannell says it is unlikely Fisher will race anywhere else outdoors until after the GST season concludes in Los Angeles on the weekend of June 27-29.

Fisher was drawn to Grand Slam Track for a number of reasons. First of all, the timing worked. Fisher says that if the schedule hindered his ability to perform at the US and World Championships, he would not have signed up (it also helped that all of the events are in North America or the Caribbean). Second, Fisher is a believer in the concept: he likes that fans already know, months in advance, when and where some of the world’s best runners will be squaring off in 2025 (Gebrhiwet, Olympic silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya, and two-time Worlds 4th placer Luis Grijalva of Guatemala are the other Racers in Fisher’s event group).

Third, he views the format — none of the races will feature pacers — as a way to hone his racing craft.

“In the past, my tactics have been a little shaky in championships,” Fisher says. “More opportunities to race the best guys in that setting is only a good thing for me.”

Finally, the money doesn’t hurt. First place is worth $100,000 per Slam. Even if Fisher finishes last at all four Slams, he is guaranteed a total of $40,000 in prize money.

“Whether  you sign on for Grand Slam or not, I think  it  benefits all athletes,” says Fisher, noting that the Diamond League has already committed to bumping its prize money in 2025. “More money and interest in the sport, a big investment, is good.”

One of the concerns about Grand Slam Track is the doubling requirement. Will fans want to see the same set of athletes race each other in a 5,000 and again in a 3,000 two days later? Particularly when they’ll be doing the same double three more times over the next three months?

Fisher says there was some discussion of having just one long distance race per meet, but it did not go anywhere. He is willing to give doubling a shot.

“The argument for that is increased exposure,” Fisher says. “…It’s entertainment at the end of the day. If you have two sets of entertainment versus one in a weekend, that’s better for everybody — the organizing group gets more out of each athlete and the athlete gets more exposure.

“I mean, it’s very possible that we run a 5k and then we jog a 3k two days later and everyone hates it. It’s possible that the product turns out that the athletes aren’t cooperating with entertaining racing and it becomes kind of dull. And then I’m sure they’ll pivot.”

While Fisher is committed to Grand Slam Track, he says the World Championships will remain his top priority in 2025. As a result, he acknowledges, he won’t be his “best self” at every Grand Slam.

 ”I’m not going to be in prime shape for the April Grand Slam in Jamaica,” Fisher says. “I want to be my best self in Tokyo, so there’s some concessions that have to occur.”

Even without factoring in GST, the track calendar is very different next year compared to this one. In 2024, Scannell divided Fisher’s season into three periods: a winter season culminating at The TEN on March 16, an early outdoor season culminating at the Olympic Trials from June 21-30, and a late outdoor season culminating at the Olympics from August 2-11. Each segment had a clear structure: build toward a specific meet, back off and recover, then start to build again.

That sort of periodization isn’t entirely gone in 2025, but the late dates of USAs (July 31-August 3) and Worlds (September 13-21) coupled with Fisher’s participation in Grand Slam Track require a slightly different approach. Scannell says he really likes Grand Slam Track and is glad that it exists, but being ready to race well at each Slam presents a new challenge.

“He’ll be very ready to race,” Scannell says. “But there won’t be real sharpening stuff until the very end of the year…The training is going to be a little more bland without any sharpening. And that’s the way it goes. Because they want him to race fast in April and then they want him to race fast in September. Well, those aren’t close months.”

Does Scannell like structuring the season that way?

“You’re asking me if I like it?” Scannell says. “You should be asking Grant if he likes it. But if you ask me if I like it, the answer is no. I don’t like that as much. I want something in the back of my mind saying today we’re building on this to build toward that…Can you ask me that in August, if I liked it?”

Either way, Scannell’s star pupil is ready to start building. There may be two weeks left in the greatest year of his career to date, but he is already thinking about what comes next.

“2024 is behind us, incredible moments in my life that I’ll never forget,” Fisher says. “But it’s 2025 now, at least in my mind, and it’s time to build to Tokyo.”

You can listen to the full LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast episode with Grant Fisher here or wherever you get your podcasts.