Steeplechase American Record Holder Courtney Frerichs announced that she recently underwent surgery to reconstruct her ACL.
In a post to Instagram, she wrote, “I had surgery to reconstruct my ACL and repair a torn meniscus in my right knee.” As to the reason for the operation, she shared, “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.”
The injury and surgery means that Courtney will miss the season, in addition to hope for making her third Olympic team. Frerichs is the Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo, and also has a World Championships silver medal from London in 2017, both in the steeplechase. She is the current American Record holder in the event, having run a personal best time of 8:57.77 in 2021, the first time an American woman had run under 9 minutes for the steeple.
The announcement from Frerichs comes just weeks after Emma Coburn also had to end her season for an ankle injury at the Shanghai Diamond League, also while going over a water jump.
