RIO DE JANEIRO – Former Gopher and Stillwater native Ben Blankenship advanced to the semifinals of the Olympic 1,500 meters on Tuesday morning.

Competing at the Olympic Stadium, Blankenship ran for most of the heat in second place before easing up toward the finish and taking ninth. He stumbled over a competitor's feet at one point but easily recovered.

More important, he ran a time of 3 minutes, 38.92 seconds and realized down the stretch that he would easily advance. He will compete in the semifinals Thursday.

"I really thought being in the last heat and having everybody jog the first two, if we could just clip along we could get everyone in from our heat," Blankenship said. "I got through, but it's just not very pretty."

Blankenship arrived in Rio on Aug. 11, choosing to train and rest in the United States like many American athletes before traveling. "I felt like, not jet lag, but that my legs were pretty heavy," he said. "I just need to do something to open things up."

He competed wearing a beard, white-framed sunglasses, long hair and a tattoo of the state of Minnesota on his thigh.

Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune
A close-up of the Minnesota tattoo on Ben Blankenship.

"He's got personality," said Steve Plasencia, who coached him at the University of Minnesota. "But he's really a calm guy."

JIM SOUHAN