An athlete from Irvington hopes to run his way onto the U.S. team for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

John Gregorek has been running since high school and has been training for the Olympics ever since he missed out in 2016.

Now at age 29, he's hoping his feet will lead him to Tokyo.

Despite some minor injuries and the pandemic, the Irvington resident has stayed the course and kept up with training.

"Change the priorities for a year, just had to focus on public health and being smart, and trying to figure out what the right move was," he says. "We were able to work around it and still get some training in, and there was some small safely administered races.”

Tommy Nohilly runs the Empire Elite Track Club and coaches Gregorek. He has been preparing Gregorek to race in the 1500 meters for the last five years.

"He's one of the top in the U.S. right now with his ranking, and his times put him in right in contention," Nohilly says.

This is likely Gregorek’s last chance at the Olympics. He believes his hard work will pay off.

"You know I've been working up to it for a while and I know that I have the capability to do it, so I'm excited to go and make it happen," he says.

Gregorek is one of 32 runners from around the country that will head to Oregon in June for the qualifiers.