Tokyo Olympic 3000m steeplechase silver medalist Courtney Frerichs will miss the Olympic Trials and the Paris Games after undergoing season-ending right knee surgery last Wednesday.
“Last month, two days before what was supposed to be my first race of the outdoor season, we were practicing water jumps when my knee hyperextended in the water pit resulting in a complete tear of my ACL and tears in both my medial and lateral menisci,” was posted on her social media. “There have been many tears and my brain has tried to make sense of all this and what went wrong. As runners we tend to view things systematically, but truth is this was a freak accident that comes with the inherent risk of being a steeplechaser combined with my hyper-mobile body. I am absolutely heartbroken to be missing this season- especially it being an Olympic year, but I keep reminding myself that a single season doesn’t define me or my running career.”
Frerichs, 31, posted the best U.S. women’s steeple result in Olympic history with her silver in Tokyo in 2021. The women’s steeple debuted on the Olympic program in 2008.
She is one of two American women to win an Olympic steeple medal along with 2016 bronze medalist Emma Coburn, who will also miss the trials and Paris Games after breaking an ankle in an April 27 race.
Frerichs is also the 2017 World silver medalist and American record holder in the event.
Last year, she withdrew before the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships final with an ankle injury, missing a global championship for the first time since 2015.
Three women will make the U.S. Olympic team for Paris in the steeple at trials from June 21-30 in Eugene, Oregon.
Contenders include Krissy Gear, the 2023 U.S. champion, Courtney Wayment, the top American at the 2023 Worlds in 15th place, and Val Constien, who joined Coburn and Frerichs on the Tokyo Olympic team and placed 12th.
