Very rough spring for US steeplechasers. Emma Coburn gets season-ending ankle injury in Suzhou, now Courtney Frerichs is out after tearing her ACL, MCL, and LCL during practice. Both injuries the result of awkward landings in the water pit.
It’s for sure an unforgiving event on your body, especially as you reach your 30’s. Personally, my knees and ankles eventually just couldn’t take it anymore. My last season running it was age 34 and it got so bad I could barely jog for days after each race and would never have been able to handle rounds anymore. Spikes are a lot more cushioned now compared to back when I was running 20+ years ago, so that may help a little bit.
Whoa! Frerichs said she tore the ACL. She didn't say anything about MCL and LCL. She said she had two meniscus tears. Which is it?
That's my bad, sorry. Conflated the meniscus tears with the LCL/MCL.
That would be easy to do. Remember meniscus is the padding, usually not serious to tear. Ligaments are serious to tear. Medial and lateral are just relative locations.
Regardless, not a good situation for her, or in especially violent sports.
Oof I feel for them. I think since her and Coburn are decently young and their flat times are in the ballpark of their peaks, they think they can still steeple sub 8:55 with the best of ‘em…but it’s over. The event is too brutal on the body…Especially true after multiple surgeries. I hope they move to the roads bc I’m curious to see what their potential there is. They are both strength oriented runners that ran decent XC in college so wouldn’t be surprised if they turn some heads there.
Training with Puma Elite destroys another athlete. They have more athletes that are hurt than they do healthy.
Reasonable people can quibble about one group's training vs another's. But I don't see how a single bad landing in a water pit reflects poorly on the coaching. This one was simply bad luck.
Surprised we don't see more catastrophic injuries on the elite scene. Just seems like a numbers game. Eventually you will break something in your body through an awkward landing or just misjudging the hurdle. Like trail racing...eventually you'll land awkwardly on some rocks and break an ankle
Rant: If the injury happened last month, why are we just finding out about it now?? I hate the way this sport continually leaves fans in the dark about how athletes are doing.
Mentioned this on the other US Women Steeplechasers thread -- many athletes use social media only when life is sunshine & roses but leave us in the dark when it's not.
Frerichs has had social media for a long time. She should have informed everyone when she DNS'd the Payton Jordan meet which was to be her outdoor season opener. That was the first sign something was up. By going dark on her social media she just fueled the speculation.
So, don't hate the sport.
Hate the athletes for their lack of transparency & social media behavior.
Training with Puma Elite destroys another athlete. They have more athletes that are hurt than they do healthy.
Says the tool that does not know how hard Steeple is. This is the rigor of this particular event. And the water jump is brutal, especially so at the elite level.
Not that you would know what the elite level is...
Do you think this has anything to do with the new shoes? Kind of weird that we never saw these types of injuries in the event and then within a year, Val and Courtney both get the same injury and Coburn hurts her ankle....wonder if the carbon plate negatively impacts stability on the landing or something.....idk
i think a month is plenty of time for courtney to process such a major injury during the olympic year before immediately taking to social media? Maybe she is just human?
Mentioned this on the other US Women Steeplechasers thread -- many athletes use social media only when life is sunshine & roses but leave us in the dark when it's not.
Frerichs has had social media for a long time. She should have informed everyone when she DNS'd the Payton Jordan meet which was to be her outdoor season opener. That was the first sign something was up. By going dark on her social media she just fueled the speculation.
So, don't hate the sport.
Hate the athletes for their lack of transparency & social media behavior.
I've seen this sentiment before on here, and I must say I disagree with it. When you're right in the middle or immediate aftermath of dealing with something so painful (physically, but even more mentally/emotionally), I fully understand not immediately wanting to share it with countless anonymous strangers.
Rant: If the injury happened last month, why are we just finding out about it now?? I hate the way this sport continually leaves fans in the dark about how athletes are doing.
Mentioned this on the other US Women Steeplechasers thread -- many athletes use social media only when life is sunshine & roses but leave us in the dark when it's not.
Frerichs has had social media for a long time. She should have informed everyone when she DNS'd the Payton Jordan meet which was to be her outdoor season opener. That was the first sign something was up. By going dark on her social media she just fueled the speculation.
So, don't hate the sport.
Hate the athletes for their lack of transparency & social media behavior.
You nor any of us are entitled to an explanation . If she wanted to post immediately she would have but apparently she was dealing with the situation in private and not worried about informing you or anyone of us. Don’t hate the sport don’t hate the athletes hate social media for deluding you alls minds into thinking it’s important that someone informs you on their every move.
Very rough spring for US steeplechasers. Emma Coburn gets season-ending ankle injury in Suzhou, now Courtney Frerichs is out after tearing her ACL, MCL, and LCL during practice. Both injuries the result of awkward landings in the water pit.
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