MEDAL CHASE: Donn Cabral clears a hurdle in the steeplechase at a recent meet. Former Princeton University track star Cabral ’12 will be competing for the U.S. in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the 2016 Summer Games. His first round race in Rio is scheduled for August 15 with final slated for August 17. This is Cabral’s second trip to the Olympics as he placed eighth in the steeplechase at the 2012 London Summer Games. (Photo Courtesy of USA Track)

Donn Cabral is methodical when it comes to preparing for competition.

As a senior at Princeton University in 2012, the distance running star was known for training like a metronome on the track, flying through one repeat after another. He also slept in an oxygen tent to help replicate the advantages of being at a higher altitude.

That disciplined approach paid dividends as Cabral won the men’s steeplechase at the NCAA championship meet and then went on to make the U.S. team in the event for the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Cabral, a 5’9, 145-pound native of Glastonbury, Conn., advanced to the Olympic finals and took eighth.

Becoming a professional runner that year, Cabral eventually joined the NJ-NY Track Club. As he turned his eye to making the 2016 Rio Summer Games, Cabral applied his characteristic attention to detail.

He started getting weekly massages and physical therapy this year to help prevent injury. Before the Olympic Trials, Cabral headed to Flagstaff, Ariz. to train for a month at altitude. In his spare time, he studied Portuguese to prepare for his potential trip to Brazil.

In his opening round race at the Trials at Eugene, Ore. on July 4, things went according to plan as Cabral cruised to victory in his heat, clocking a time of 8:26.96.

Coming into the final, Cabral formulated a straightforward approach. “The race plan in the final was to be on the leaders and stay in contact when the move was made,” said Cabral.

“Then it was to make my own move and leave everything I have got on the track in the last half lap or so.”

But chaos reigned in the final four days later as Cabral found himself trailing the leaders midway through the race and stood in fifth place coming into the final laps of the race, in real danger of not achieving the top-3 finish needed to make the U.S. team, and barely sidestepping a fallen foe on the last water jump, Cabral surged into third down the homestretch to book his spot for Rio.

“I didn’t execute it as I would have liked to have,” said Cabral, 26, reflecting on his roller-coaster ride which saw him post a time of 8:26.37 with Evan Jager finishing first in 8:22.48 and Hillary Bor taking second in 8:24.10.

“I got passed by a few people in that middle 1,000 and when Evan took the lead. I didn’t cover it as well as I would have liked to. I kind of got gapped. I was freaking out; it was crazy. I knew that trials this year had a lot of falls and contact and that was something to be looking out for. The more people’s nerves are on edge, the more they run agitated, the more things happen, and the more shocking the moves are. People were really running out of gas at that point and some of their moves seemed a little bit reckless and that combination caused some people to go down. I did a good job staying on it and keeping my composure.”

This week, Cabral will be looking to do a good job at the Rio Summer Games as his first round race is scheduled for August 15 with the final race slated for August 17.

For Cabral, earning a return trip to the Olympics was more a matter of taking a weight off of his shoulders than a cause for joy.

“The biggest thing that I think Olympians will experience the day after qualifying is a sense of relief,” said Cabral.

“I have heard that from a lot of us. There is so much pressure; some of it is good pressure, some of it is bad pressure, and a lot of it is internal. Oh my god this is important to me. A lot of it is I really want to do this for my family, for my friends, and for my sponsors. Nike has put a lot of money into me and given me a way of life.”

After the trials, Cabral headed back to Flagstaff for some final fine-tuning before traveling to Rio.

“I just need to take a couple of days before I start working out again and let my body catch up,” said Cabral, who placed first in the steeplechase in a time of 8:20.72 at the Track Town Summer Series meet in Eugene on July 29 in his final tune-up before the Olympics.

“The next step will be getting a little bit more training in and fine-tuning so starting to work on my speed a little bit more, getting some faster workouts in because I have a lot of really good 5-kilometer steeple training. Now I want to get a little more specific and train a little more like a miler in the coming weeks.”

True to character, Cabral is analytical as he assesses his prospects to make it to the podium in Rio.

“If everything goes perfectly, and that includes some things going wrong for other people, there is definitely a chance,” said Cabral.

“I need to really be performing at a different level than I performed at the Olympic Trials before I can reasonably say I have a chance at a medal. I am dreaming of it of course and it is in my mind, that is what I am visualizing. For the practical person, I need to have some indications of better fitness before I can say that it is reasonable.”

Drawing on his experience in London, Cabral feels more at ease about competing at the Olympic level.

“I don’t think it matters for the race as much but I think I will be better at being calm at the Olympics,” said Cabral.

“In 2012, I had just graduated from Princeton and everywhere I was, at the Olympics and that summer competing professionally, I felt like a freshman in the cafeteria, trying to find his way socially. I am just so much more comfortable with myself and with other elite athletes and big names. I have been around them long enough now where I see past their accomplishments, enough to keep my cool, at least.”