Olympic silver medal winner Courtney Frerichs is a middle-distance runner and steeplechase specialist from the United States. She has won silver in the 3000 m steeplechase three times, in the Olympic Games in 2021 in Toyko, the World Championships in 2017 in London, and the 2018 World (Continental) Cup in Ostrava. She set an American and Area record in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase in 2021 by becoming the first American woman to run under nine minutes with a time of 8:57.77. She competed in the Olympics twice, representing the US in 2016 and 2021. She came in second place to US National Champion Emma Coburn in both of her Olympic Trials.
Emma Coburn won the gold medal and Frerichs the silver medal in the women’s steeplechase over a distance of three thousand metres at the 2017 World Championships, making them the first American women to do so since the Stockholm Games in 1912 in any individual World Championships or Olympic race longer than 400 metres. They defeated four of the top five women in the world in that race, including Ruth Jebet, the holder of the world record and the gold medallist at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Hyvin Jepkemoi, the defending champion, Beatrice Chepkoech, and Celliphine Chespol, the second-fastest woman in the world.
Frerichs came in second place behind Beatrice Chepkoech’s world record 8:44.32 effort at the Herculis event in Monaco on July 20, 2018. With a time of 9:00.85, Frerichs beat Coburn’s steeplechase record for both the United States and North America (NACAC) and climbed to sixth position on the list of all-time best times. At the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Frerichs won the steeplechase NCAA title while competing for the Lobos, setting a collegiate record of 9:24.41.
