Former University of Wisconsin runner Evan Jager celebrates his first-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials June 28. Credit: Associated Press

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London - It's not unusual for a track athlete to win a car for an exceptional performance.

But at 13?

That's how old Evan Jager was when he took possession of a 1989 5.0-liter Ford Mustang, which instantly made him the most popular kid in his eighth-grade class in Algonquin, Ill.

One year earlier, Jager had run a mile for the first time. His father timed him in 6 minutes 12 seconds and chuckled when Evan shrugged his shoulders and said he could run a mile in 5 minutes if he trained for it.

"So I threw him a bone," Joel Jager said. "I said, 'When you run the mile in 5 minutes, I'll buy you car.'

"I didn't think it was going to happen anytime soon."

It was one of the few times Joel Jager underestimated his son. Within a year, Evan ran a 5-minute mile. His father kept his word and bought the Mustang, which Evan couldn't even legally drive for three years.

The moral of the story? Don't bet using car titles as collateral.

Or, perhaps more to the point, don't bet against Evan Jager.

Just 10 months after he started training for the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Jager, now 23, owns the U.S. record and is in London to compete in the Olympic Games.

With just four career steeplechase races under his belt, including a victory at the U.S. Olympic trials, the former University of Wisconsin runner is scheduled to compete in the first round at the Olympic Stadium on Friday.

"I am feeling great," said Jager, who hopes to advance to the final Aug. 5. "I'm in a good place mentally and physically."

His rapid ascension in the steeplechase, a grueling race that combines running, hurdling and jumping, has been stunning.

Jager competed in his first steeplechase in April. Two months later he won the Olympic trials and on July 20, one week before the Olympic opening ceremony, he broke the U.S. record and finished third in a Diamond League meet in Monaco.

His time of 8:06.81 was almost exactly 2 seconds faster than the previous American record of 8:08.82. The world record is 7:53.63, set by Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar on Sept. 3, 2004.

"The first steeple I ran this year was one of the most fun races I've run in a long, long time," Jager said. "It has come so natural to me. It just feels good while I'm doing it. When you're doing something well, it's always a lot more fun."

The steeplechase has carried the stigma of being a last resort for runners who can't cut it in the 1,500 meters or the 5,000. Few elite athletes actually aspire to run the steeple. Jager, who finished third in the 5K at the 2009 U.S. championships, is an exception to the rule.

He embraced the event from the beginning and says it is the race that defines him as an athlete.

"It's not like I'm making the move to the steeple because I can't cut it in the other events," Jager said. "This is the event I was made for. This is definitely my best event, my strongest event."

Joel Jager said his son had the perfect frame to excel in the steeplechase. Evan is 6 feet 2 inches and weighs 146 pounds.

"He's got the physique and the speed for it," the elder Jager said. "He's got good jumping ability. He's 75% legs. His inseam is over 36 inches long."

Jager has never lacked for inspiration when it comes to running, '89 Mustang aside. His father was stricken with polio at 10 months, is paralyzed on his left side and has never been able to run or participate in sports.

"That was a very influential part of why I wanted to run and why I enjoyed running so much," Evan said. "That was definitely in the forefront of my mind. It was very gratifying seeing how much joy I was able to bring to both of my parents, but especially my dad.

"When I started getting serious about the sport in high school I realized just how big it was for me to have these abilities."

Said Joel Jager, "It's kind of a cool thing that he has the gift I never got a chance to experience. This is kind of God's gift to me."

Evan Jager ran the 1,500 meters and the mile at Wisconsin but spent only one year in Madison. He decided to follow his coach, Jerry Schumacher, who moved to Portland, Ore., to train runners under the Nike banner.

"Running professionally the first year in '09, I think it was beneficial to establish myself as an elite runner at the national level, finishing third at the U.S. championships," Jager said. "It just kind of proved to myself that I made the right decision in coming out to Portland and running professionally as opposed to staying in college."

Jager started feeling pain in his foot in 2010 and took some time off, but broke a bone in the foot at nationals. He didn't start racing again until 2011 and went through a frustrating season.

"I wasn't competitive at all in the U.S. or overseas," he said.

By the end of the year, Jager needed a change. A high school coach once told him he could excel in the steeplechase. Schumacher agreed and Jager started working with UW graduate Pascal Dobert, a three-time U.S. steeplechase champion and two-time Olympian.

"We started working on hurdling drills and all the flexibility stuff," Jager said. "I just kind of took to it."

In the steeple, runners must negotiate four 36-inch barriers - the last one followed immediately by a 12-foot-long water jump - on each of seven laps around the 400-meter track.

"The barriers kind of offer something to break up the monotony of racing in circles," Jager said. "It offers you something to look forward to five times per lap, and it definitely forces you to concentrate on what is going on around you and what's coming up in front of you.

"It doesn't allow you to mentally check off and sit in the pack and stare at the guy's back in front of you like you can in the 5K or the 10K."

Jager is so new to the steeple that he had never run it internationally until the Diamond League meet two weeks ago.

"My goal is to make the Olympic final and run the best that I can," he said. "I don't know if that's going to be 10th or last or fifth. I really have no clue. I just know that I want to make the final and run my best race."