( CNN ) -- The buzz began hours before the start of the race at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials : Would one of the most-elusive records in long distance running set by a legend long dead finally fall ? It 's a question that has been asked at nearly every Olympic track trials since the brash Steve Prefontaine set the meet record for men 's 5,000 meters in 1972 . Sure , there have been runners since who have been more than capable of breaking the record . They just always came up short when it counted . The record , though , was not the most pressing issue on Galen Rupp 's mind when he stepped up to the starting line on a cool , crisp night last week at Hayward Field in Eugene , Oregon . His goal , he told reporters : a top-three finish that would guarantee him a ticket to the Olympics . Rupp , who had already qualified for the 10,000 meters , was running against the Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat , a favorite . Unseen , though , was another opponent : Prefontaine , whose presence decades after his death on May 30 , 1975 , at the age of 24 , has loomed large over long distance running in the United States . There are eerie similarities between Rupp and Prefontaine : Both were born and reared in Oregon , trained at the University of Oregon and later ran for the Oregon Track Club . And both matured as runners following their first Olympic appearance . Rupp finished out of the medals in the 10,000 meters at the Beijing Games in 2008 . Pre , as Prefontaine was known to fans , was charismatic and brash , predicting wins and sometimes taunting opponents . His following was huge by track standards , with thousands attending his races . At one point , an opponent donned a `` Stop Pre '' T-shirt to counter fans , dubbed `` Pre 's People , '' wearing `` Go Pre '' shirts . At the 1972 Games in Munich , Prefontaine promised that if it came down to `` a pure guts race at the end , '' he was the only one who could win . He placed fourth in a heartbreaking finish after leading for the last four laps of the 5,000 meters , a race that saw Finland 's Lasse Viren win gold in a late surge . By most accounts , he was a favorite to medal , if not win gold , at the 1976 Games in Montreal . Prefontaine died in a car accident hours after running his last race at Hayward Field . At the time of his death , he owned every American record between 2,000 and 10,000 meters and between two miles and six miles , according to stats provided by the University of Oregon . When 26-year-old Rupp took to the track for the 5,000 meters Thursday at Hayward Field , the same track where Prefontaine set the meet record in 1972 , he already owned an American record in the 10,000 meter . The crowd of thousands roared with the start of the race , just like they had decades earlier for Prefontaine 's race . `` This is the only place in the country , possibly the world , that you 're going to get that kind of reception for the 5,000 , '' Rupp said later . It was n't surprising that Rupp led the last laps . The surprise was the finish , after Rupp was overtaken by Lagat in the final lap and then surged the final 20 meters to the finish line . Rupp 's time : 13:22.67 , less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Prefontaine 's 13:22.8 . `` To hear I got the record , that 's unreal , '' Rupp told reporters shortly after the race . `` Anytime you 're mentioned in the same breath as Steve Prefontaine , it 's a huge compliment . '' But more than that , Rupp 's record-breaking run opens the door for U.S. long distance runners to be considered contenders at the London Olympics . Only one American man has medaled since Frank Shorter won the gold medal in the marathon in 1972 and a silver medal in 1976 , and that was Meb Keflezighi , who won the silver in the marathon at the Athens Games in 2004 . Maybe , just maybe , Rupp will bring home the medal that eluded Prefontaine .
Steve Prefontaine set the 5,000 meter record at the U.S. Olympic trials in 1972 . The meet record is one of the most elusive in track and field . Galen Rupp broke the record by less than two-tenths of a second . `` To hear I got the record , that 's unreal , '' Rupp says .