By Romaine Soh
In the steeplechase Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic, Emma Coburn realized she was on pace to break the American record on her final lap when the clock showed 8:02. But with no clocks on the backstretch and the clock on the home stretch stopping at the winner’s time, Coburn was basically running blind.
“The steeplechase has a lot of obstacles,” she said. “There’s a lot of drama yet to happen on the last lap even if you’re feeling good. I just tried to stay relaxed and think about what I had done in practice to prepare me for this.”
Coburn finished third in 9 minutes, 10.76 seconds, breaking the American record at a meet where she had previously set personal records the last two times she competed.
She found out the good news 10 seconds after she finished and said she had been crying ever since she saw her time.
“I can’t wait to call my coaches because they’re going to be pretty pleased with it,” she said. “I just felt really good. I felt like I could have gone another lap.”
Coburn had previously broken the American record in 2014 when she ran 9:11.42 at the Glasgow Diamond League meet. However, USATF, the governing body of track and field in the U.S., refused to recognize the time because Coburn had neglected to take a drug test.
“I’m trying to find someone to give me a drug test so I can make it official,” she said after Saturday’s race. “I’m very, very excited to take that test and have the time ratified.”
In a scintillating dash to the finish, Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet became the second person to go under the 9-minute barrier as she broke the tape in 8:59.97. The only other person who has run sub-9 is the world record holder Gulnara Galkina, whose record of 8:58.81 has stood for eight years.
Besides setting a new world leading time, Jebet also rewrote the previous meet record of 9:11.39, set by Sofia Assefa in 2014. Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng, who had been the world leader coming into this race, improved her PR by seven seconds, just missing out on clocking a sub-9 time by a hundredth of a second.
Coburn deviated from her usual style of early front running, choosing to stay near the back for the first half. After seeing the Kenyans’ fast times at the Shanghai Diamond League, she chose to run conservatively in comparison to them, doing her own thing. “I was happy that they were running aggressively,” she said. “I had someone to look at, and I didn’t have to be the one pressing.”
The previous U.S. record holder, Jenny Simpson, who ran 9:12.50 in 2009, is now Coburn’s training partner. Simpson was crying tears of joy when she heard of Coburn’s breakthrough. Simpson competed in the 1,500 meters at the Pre Classic an hour after Coburn’s race.
“There’s not a bigger fan of her than me,” said Simpson. “It’s just really sweet to see her do so well. I think it was kind of hard for me to race today because I was so distracted. There’s ups and downs in everybody’s training, and there are good and bad elements every year. She’s just been able to bring all of that together and put it in a place that is just beautiful.”
Coburn’s record was at risk of not being recognized. Halfway through the race, an official panicked about the height of the first barrier, thinking that it was too low, but it turned out to be a false alarm. Another distraction came in the form of a celebrating Will Claye. The triple jumper had set a then-world leading distance, and he ran across the track right in front of the steeplechasers. Coburn had been far enough in the back not to be affected by this distraction, but front-runners Shalaya Kipp, Jebet and the Kenyans were close enough to be spooked.
Global medals are on the horizon for American steeplechasers, Coburn said. Three Americans had progressed to the World Championships finals last year, and she believes that the women steeplechasers are raising the bar. After this race, Coburn said her next steeplechase race will be the trials in July but may consider some domestic 1,500-meter races to get in some speed work.
