RIO DE JANEIRO — In an event that presents trouble lurking around every turn on the track, Emma Coburn glides over every obstacle with fluidity, grace and a serene countenance that has made her America’s best female steeplechase runner.
Having to leap over 30-inch-high wooden barriers 35 times in 3,000 meters (1.86 miles) — with every fourth one having a water pit for a landing — is a perilous way to make a living. A minor mishap in the steeplechase can knock a runner down and out of the race. More serious crashes can cause bodily harm or chain-reaction pile-ups. Coburn makes it look a romp on her favorite trail run in Crested Butte, where she grew up, seemingly oblivious to the potential for carnage.
The former CU star advanced easily in Saturday’s Olympics semifinals and will run in the finals of the event Monday morning. Her time of nine minutes, 18.12 seconds was third among the 53 woman who competed.
“She looked controlled,” said Mark Wetmore, the University of Colorado track coach who still coaches her as a professional. “She is ready to run well in two days.”
After running in the pack for the first half of Saturday’s race, Coburn made a move to get clear of traffic and led until the final lap when Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya slipped past her (9:17.55). Coburn let her go, knowing a top-three finish would put her in the final.
“I felt good leading and I felt comfortable and I felt like I had another gear that last kilometer if I needed it,” said Coburn, 25.
Coburn is the American record holder (9:10.76), having taken it this year from fellow Colorado grad Jenny Simpson, who left the steeplechase five years ago to focus on the 1,500 meters. The two Boulder training partners are the top U.S. runners in their respective events.
“I always looked up to her,” said Colleen Quigley, another American who advanced to the finals. “I think everyone saw Emma as this amazing creature we would just dream to be in a race with. Always knows what she’s doing – calm, cool and collected. She’s the one you want to follow in a race like this because she knows exactly how to handle it. She takes the hurdles not herky-jerky, very smooth every time.”
It takes a special personality to be comfortable in steeplechase. Those barriers are wooden 4x4s, and they don’t move when a runner hits them.
“It takes a lot of heart and it takes a lot of guts,” Coburn said. “All track and field events do, but there’s something about the steeplechase: If mishaps or stressers bother you a lot, if you need everything perfect, itap not your kind of event. There are times you’re approaching a barrier and have no idea itap coming, you just see the heads in front of you jump and thatap your cue to go. Or if someone falls in front of you in the water jump … There’s just a lot of problems where some drama might occur. If you aren’t a calm person, it might really upset you.”
The potential for disaster is what drove Coburn to the front Saturday.
“I’m comfortable sitting in a pack if the people around me aren’t jostling too much for position,” Coburn said. “In that race it felt like there were people jostling for position the whole time. I just decided I didn’t want to be around all these moves.”
The American record Coburn set in May ranks her third in the world this year. She seemingly has realistic hopes for a medal here — she was fifth at world championships last year — but it got her attention Saturday when Ruth Jebet of Bahrain ran 9:12.62 in another heat.
“Itap a very fast track, and the final is going to be very fast,” Coburn said. “I don’t think itap ever been 9:18 to get second in a heat, so itap going to be really fast. I’m feeling strong going into the final, but itap definitely going to take every ounce of me to finish high.”
