SAINT-DENIS, France — American runner Grant Fisher made history on Friday, winning a bronze medal in the men's 10,000-meter final. It was Team USA's first medal in the event since Galen Rupp won silver in London in 2012.
And, it turns out, the groundwork for Fisher's historic run was laid right here in Arizona.
His coach, Mike Scannell, is a Valley local.
He grew up in Tempe and graduated from McClintock High School in 1980 before walking onto the Arizona State cross country team in 1981.
It was at ASU that Scannell's connection to the Fisher family, a path that ultimately led to Friday's medal, would begin as Scannell was teammates at ASU with Fisher's dad, Dan.
Fifteen years after graduating from ASU, Scannell wound up in Flint, Michigan, working at a manufacturing company. It was there that he would reunite with his college teammate, hiring Dan Fisher as a national sales manager, according to a 2015 article from MyCityMag.com.
Scannell would then begin coaching a young Grant Fisher, who had just shifted his priorities from soccer to track after finishing 19th in the Michigan State 3,200-meter race and 13th in the 1,600-meter race and feeling displeased.
"After those races, I was not happy and started to take running more seriously," Fisher told MyCityMag's Mark Spezia. "That summer, I started running more to prepare for the next cross-country and track seasons."
Scannell did not know then that he would be coaching a future bronze medalist.
"At that time, soccer was Grant’s priority and he was nothing special in terms of running," Scannell said. "Honestly, I didn’t think much of it at all then, but what makes Grant special is his mental focus and his response to physical training. Neither of those were apparent when I first saw him run. However, those were developed over time."
That talent would quickly develop, as Fisher became one of just five boys to ever win two Foot Locker national cross country championships and he even became just the seventh high school runner ever to run a mile in less than four minutes.
Fisher went on to run collegiately at Stanford, where he was a 12-time All-American, won a national title in the men's 5,000 meters and finished as high as second in the national cross country championships.
Fisher turned pro in 2020, deciding to run for Bowerman Track Club in Eugene, Oregon.
He qualified for his first Olympics in 2021, running in both the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters in Tokyo, where he finished fifth and ninth, respectively, making his claim as one of the top distance runners in the world.
In October 2023, Fisher announced he was leaving the Bowerman Track Club, instead deciding to train in Park City, Utah, with Scannell as his coach once again.
That came just months after Scannell was hired to run the cross country program at Hamilton High School in Chandler, where the training tactics he has used with Fisher over the years helped the Hamilton boys improve from a sixth-place finish in the state championships in 2022 to second-place in 2023 and the girls improve from a fifth-place finish in 2022 to a fourth-place finish in 2023.
Since teaming back up with Fisher, Scannell has documented their time training in Utah on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing how Fisher pushed to make his dream a reality, even if that sometimes meant training alone.
Scannell celebrated with Fisher when Fisher won the men's 10,000 meters at the US Olympic Track and Field Team Trials in Oregon in June.
Scannell also shared what has set Fisher apart and helped him become one of the top distance runners on the planet.
12News caught up with Scannell after a night of celebrations in Paris that had him awake into the early hours of Saturday morning.
"I'm fine," Scannell said. "The adrenaline starts flowing so much that you, that you don't get tired. So, I'm actually doing fine."
All of that celebration felt great for the coach and runner after months of working toward this morning.
"That was the goal when we started working last fall together," Scannell said. "So, we sat down and laid out a plan and that plan had a bunch of pretty major steps in it. And this is the third and final step, which actually concludes on August the 10th."
Aug. 10 is when Fisher will look to add another Olympic medal to his — and Scannell's — resumes in the men's 5,000 meters. The preliminary round of the men's 5,000 meters will be raced on Aug. 7 at 2:10 a.m. Arizona time. The final will be raced at 10:50 a.m. on Aug. 10.
But for now, Scannell is focused on celebrating Friday's achievement for his star runner. However, despite Fisher's bronze, there was still one part of the race Scannell didn't love.
"I would have been a little happier, honestly, if that final move was made about, uh, three laps to go because uh then there wouldn't have been so many guys with a minute left," Scannell said. "With a minute left. You don't know what's gonna happen. And honestly, they circled the track and you, he was in fifth place with 180 (meters) to go. So you can't, for me judging what was going on, that was no guarantee he was gonna get on the podium. But he, you know, lit it up there at the end and executed well."
And for all of the runners back home watching Fisher's success, Scannell has one message.
"To all those kids out there that are looking and watching that race and being motivated by that, there's another one of you sitting out there right now, so stay the course and let your dreams drive your, your motivation and stay with them."
12News journalist Luke Lyddon contributed to this story.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
12Sports on YouTube
Get the latest news and stories from 12Sports on the 12News YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe!
