Vermont’s Elle St. Pierre has secured a spot in the 1,500-meter women’s finals in Paris on Saturday and a chance to snag her first Olympic medal.

St. Pierre, who raced collegiately at New Hampshire, finished in third place in the first of two semifinal races in the women’s 1,500-meter on Thursday with a time of 3:59.74. She came in behind British runner Georgia Bell (3:59.49) in second place and Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon (3:58.64) in first place.

In the last few meters, when it looked like St. Pierre might finish fourth at best, she kept pace, passing Britain’s Laura Muir to snatch third. The top six runners from each heat advance to Saturday’s final.

At Phineas Swann Inn & Spa in Montgomery, St. Pierre’s hometown, more than 100 neighbors gathered in a barn to snack on hamburgers and hot dogs, watching the race on a projector screen.

The barn — typically a site for summer weddings — was decked out with Olympic flags alongside chandeliers and white drapes, which seemed “a little fancy for an Olympic viewing party,” according to owner Darren Drevik. “But it worked.” He said it made for “an interesting, kind of international feel to it.”

Every time St. Pierre was on the screen — even just tying her shoes — Drevik said the barn was full of yells and cheers.

Drevik said she trains in the area all the time. Her family’s dairy farm is just off Purrier Road.

“We see her running all the time on the road, and we see her running on the bike trail,” Drevik said. “You know, everybody here knows her, knows what she’s capable of, and we also know how hard she works.”

Since the business’s last watch-party during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Drevik said everyone has “gotten a lot smarter about the event.” St. Pierre’s supporters had caught on to “the subtleties of the sport” from the preliminaries to the finals.

“Everybody knew what she had to do, and so as soon as she finished, everybody’s like, ‘She’s in!’ you know?” he said. “They were thrilled.”

St. Pierre’s alma mater, Richford High School, hosted a watch party at the same time.

In Montpelier at the Three Penny Taproom, bar-goers twisted around in their stools and paused their next bite to watch as St. Pierre, singularly clad in her distinct sunglasses, oscillated between pushing to the front and sinking back to the middle of the group, until she eventually pulled out in the final stretch.

After St. Pierre tore across the line in less than four minutes, Eileen Simpson of Calais, a Three Penny regular, turned around to sit back down in “her” stool with her signature Manhattan in hand and summed it up: “Wow. Could not do that.”

It’s St. Pierre’s second Olympics and comes at the tail-end of a trailblazing year.

St. Pierre, 29, broke her own U.S. record in the indoor mile in February 2024 before setting a North American and championship record as she grabbed gold in the 3,000-meter at the World Athletics Indoor Championship race in March 2024.

Even in the Olympic trials, the Montgomery runner couldn’t help but set a few new bests: running the fastest 5,000-meter by a woman in U.S. trials history (14:40.34) and completing 1,500 meters in 3:55.99, crushing her 10th place time of 4:01.00 in Tokyo 2021.

“We’re looking forward to Saturday,” Drevik said. “We’re going to do the same thing again, and hopefully at the end of it, we’re going to watch her win a medal.”