Elle Purrier St. Pierre, a Vermont dairy farmer turned track star, has booked her ticket to the summer Olympics once again.

Setting a meet-record performance, the Montgomery, Ver., native won the 5,000-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., with a time of 14:40.34, a new Trials record. This seals Purrier St. Pierre’s spot on Team U.S.A., allowing her to compete at 2024 Olympic Games in Paris later this summer.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a bit. The 5k always hurts and I just dug a little deeper at the end there,” St. Pierre said on the NBC telecast after being asked about having her 1-year-old son, Ivan, in the stands. “It’s just so emotional to have Ivan here and I’m really proud to be his mom.”

Purrier St. Pierre grew up on a 40-cow operation in Vermont, but never left the farm, as she and her husband still live on a dairy farm today. The runner married her high-school sweetheart, Jamie St. Pierre, and would compete against him at 4-H events growing up. Jamie studied dairy management at Cornell, is a dairy farmer, and works on his family’s dairy farm also located in Vermont.

In 2021, St. Pierre’s family made the tough decision to exit the dairy industry, selling the cows on her home farm. Though St. Pierre is still able to get some cow time in on the farm her husband manages, she reflects on how she still misses not seeing dairy cows on the farm she grew up on.

Purrier’s competition at this year’s Trials is far from over. She’ll begin her bid in the 1,500-meters with a first-round heat on Thursday night in Eugene.

Watch the entire 5,000-meter race below:

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