The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
One step closer to 2012
Summer Games
Crested Butte’s own Emma Coburn just took one more step closer to making it to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Coburn, a junior at the University of Colorado, has been climbing the national ranks of the steeplechase over the course of her collegiate career.
Her freshman year, she set the national junior record time in the steeplechase at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University.
On Sunday, May 1, she returned to the event to line up against the top steeplers in the nation.
“It’s one of the top two premier distance events for pros and collegians,” says Coburn. “It’s a fun way to measure how good you are.”
It was Coburn’s first steeplechase race in 11 months. She runs cross-country for CU in the fall and there are no steeplechase events during the winter indoor track season.
In fact, the steeplechase season doesn’t start until March but Coburn bypassed the early season races competing in more of the short distance events and staying fresh until the premier steeplechase race.
“The steeplechase is hard on the body so one doesn’t want to overdo them,” says CU head track coach Mark Wetmore.
Furthermore, while Coburn has raced against top collegians and pros before, she’s never lined up against all of them at once in the same race.
“I just went in not intimidated and not worrying about what they’re doing,” says Coburn. “I just focused on what I was doing.”
Coburn and her coaches had set a goal prior to the race for Coburn to run an Olympic “A” standard time—that is, under nine minutes and 43 seconds.
Once a steepler hits that benchmark, she’s one step closer to making the Olympic games.
With that in mind, Coburn charged off the start line and into the lead in the opening 10 meters. Following the initial surge, she then eased back, conscious of the fact that going too fast too early can catch up to you as the race wears on.
“I went out a little hard and I felt great but I focused on getting back to pace and staying comfortable and relaxed,” explains Coburn.
As the race progressed, Coburn continued to build her lead on the rest of the pack, catching a glimpse of her pace on the clock with each lap.
“Ideally, it’s good to have people next to you to push you,” says Coburn. “By the middle of the race I had to focus on staying calm. When I saw later in the race that I was on pace for the Olympic ‘A’ standard, I was excited.”
Coming into the final stretch, she got one last time-check from her coach and thought she had fallen off the pace, so she pushed hard the final 100 meters.
As it turned out, Coburn misunderstood her coach and she crossed with some room to spare, finishing in a personal best time of nine minutes, 40 seconds—11 seconds faster than her previous best time, and well ahead of the field.
“I was just really relieved,” says Coburn of her initial reaction.
Following a frantic schedule to get rest and fly back to CU for finals, the reality of her accomplishment didn’t hit her until Monday.
“Once I was home and sitting down, it all sunk in,” says Coburn. “Now I’m beyond happy.”
Wetmore believes Coburn still has room to improve but was impressed with her race.
“She’s making big improvements,” says Wetmore. “In our mind her time is a B-plus but the people she beat and the way she ran was A-plus.”
With that first goal reached, Coburn’s next step to make the 2012 Olympics comes in the summer of 2012 at the USA Championships. If she finishes in the top three there, she’s punched her ticket to London for the Olympic games.
“I still have a lot of work ahead of me,” says Coburn.
She will close out her 2011 collegiate season with the Big 12 championships in Oklahoma in two weeks. She’s got her short-term sights set on winning the NCAA steeplechase National Championships.
“I want to try to win that and get a title,” says Coburn.
“She was second a year ago,” adds Wetmore. “On paper, Emma’s the favorite.”
Following that, she will compete in the 2011 USA Track and Field Championships for a shot at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea in August.
“It could be an exciting summer,” says Coburn.
