Emma Coburn punches ticket to 2012 Olympics Games

Locals gather around to watch local history made

Two laps into the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Friday, June 29, it became increasingly obvious that Crested Butte’s own Emma Coburn was headed to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

Coburn built a commanding lead on the entire field midway through the race and kept it nice and steady until she broke the tape at the finish with a time of 9:32.78 and punched her ticket, with authority, to the Olympic Games this summer.
Despite her commanding lead midway through the race, the Olympics didn’t cross her mind until the deal was done. Even then, it still took a while to sink in.
“It wasn’t until the finish line that I knew I was in,” explains Coburn. “But I didn’t realize what a big deal it was until later, about 30 minutes after the race, when I almost broke down and started crying.”
Emma Coburn may be the first Crested Butte-raised athlete to reach the Summer Olympic Games. She first cut her teeth on running for the Crested Butte Community School Titans cross-country and track teams, garnering numerous state titles in a variety of disciplines.
She tested the waters of the steeplechase at the Southwest Track Classic in New Mexico in 2007 and placed second in the steeplechase at the Nike Outdoor nationals as a high school senior in 2008, was named an All-American and earned a full-ride scholarship to run track and field at the University of Colorado (CU).
Since then, Coburn has been on a rocket-ship ride, firing off a number of collegiate titles including back-to-back Big 12 titles and taking the NCAA steeplechase title in 2011. In addition, she won the steeplechase at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in 2011 to qualify for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August, where she finished 13th place.
Heading into her senior year at CU, Coburn and her coaches made a decision to have Coburn red shirt, i.e. stay out of collegiate competitions, and focus on her preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
After months of training without competition, Coburn returned to action in May with a 1,500-meter race and then ran her first steeplechase at the Prefontaine Classic, aka the Pre, in Oregon on June 2.
It was her first steeplechase race in eight months and it became obvious that Coburn’s time training had paid off in spades.
The Pre attracts the top track and field athletes from around the world, especially in an Olympic year. Coburn stepped up to the challenge at the Pre, posting a new personal record time of 9:25.28 to finish in fifth place overall, first among all American women.
That left two races standing between Coburn and the Olympics, a qualifying heat and the finals at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic qualifiers in Oregon June 22-29.
Emma is the top-ranked U.S. women’s steepler. Her coach at CU Boulder, Mark Wetmore, said leading up to the qualifiers, unless something drastic happened, Emma should qualify. All she had to do was finish top three and she was in. Still, anything can happen on race day and the Olympic Trials raise the intensity exponentially.
“There’s just a level of excitement about the Olympics that make the Olympic Trials a new kind of pressure,” says Wetmore. “The training is all there, it’s just a matter of keeping everyone’s feet on the ground. Fortunately, [Emma’s] excellent at that.”
Coburn opened the Olympic Trials winning her preliminary heat on Monday, June 25, posting the fastest time while avoiding fatigue.
“I just wanted to get out in front of the traffic and run as easily as I could while staying ahead of everyone,” says Coburn.
With that out of the way, Coburn then had three days to relax and ready herself for the finals on Friday, June 29.
“It was pretty boring, but my family was there,” admits Coburn. “You’re just supposed to relax and stay off your feet as much as possible. There was a little bit of nerves but mostly excitement.”
Coaches Wetmore and Heather Burroughs put the plan together for Coburn to mitigate any and all potential mishaps in the finals.
“When you have someone who is one to two seconds faster per lap than everyone else, you want them to get out of trouble early, hit a pace that’s attainable and comfortable for her and that will thin out the field quickly,” says Wetmore.
Coburn followed the plan perfectly.
“I was just running about a 9:30 pace and I know that everyone else runs around 9:40,” says Coburn. “I didn’t make any move to drop them. I just kept going the same pace.”
Following the race was a flurry of activity, interviews, fittings for official USA track warm-ups and gear and a ring as well as a flurry of calls and texts from Crested Butte.
“We get pretty hooked up,” says Coburn. “I want to thank everyone in Crested Butte who watched and called me, sent me texts to congratulate me.”
Coburn is back in Boulder now for the next two weeks of continued workouts and training, with competitions planned prior to the Olympic Games, including races in Monaco and Dublin.
“We’ve got a couple races penciled in to try to sharpen up,” says Coburn.
“We’ll get back to work, maybe a race or two prior to the Games to blow out the rust a little bit,” adds Wetmore.
As for Olympic expectations, Wetmore says it’s completely up in the air, as a handful of countries have yet to release their team rosters.
“We don’t know who will show up from what countries,” explains Wetmore.
Coburn just wants to improve on her results at the World Championships in South Korea last year, where she finished 13th, just missing the cut for the finals.
“We’ve been a lot more careful with my racing,” says Coburn. “I’m pretty much just focused on improving on last year and making it to the finals.”
The preliminary steeplechase heats at the Olympic Games will be on Saturday, August 4 with the finals on Tuesday, August 7.