Courtney Frerichs

Courtney Frerichs

Frerichs at the 2018 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Personal information
Born	(1993-01-18) January 18, 1993 (age 31) Mundelein, Illinois, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	117 lb (53 kg)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event	3000 metres steeplechase
College team	Missouri–KC Kangaroos New Mexico Lobos
Club	Nike Bowerman Track Club
Turned pro	2016
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2016 Rio de Janeiro 3000 m s’chase - 11th 2020 Tokyo 3000 m s’chase -  Silver
World finals	2017 London 3000 m s’chase -  Silver 2019 Doha 3000 m s’chase - 7th
Personal bests	3000 m s’chase: 8:57.77 AR (Eugene 2021) 5000 m: 14:50.06 (Portland 2020)[1] 1500 m: 4:14.62 (Palo Alto 2018)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing the  United States Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 3000 m s’chase World Championships 2017 London 3000 m s’chase Representing the Americas IAAF Continental Cup 2018 Ostrava 3000 m s’chase

Courtney Frerichs (born January 18, 1993) is an American middle-distance runner and steeplechase^[2] specialist from Nixa, Missouri,^[3] She is a three-time silver medalist in the 3000 meters steeplechase capturing silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the 2017 World Championships in London and at the 2018 World (Continental) Cup in Ostrava. In 2021, she became the first American woman to run under nine-minutes in a women’s 3000-meters steeplechase event with a time of 8:57.77; establishing an American and Area record. She is a two-time Olympian making the US team in 2016 and 2020. In both of her Olympic Trials she finished second to US National Champion, Emma Coburn.

Frerichs made history at the 2017 World Championships where she and her teammate, Emma Coburn, finished 1-2 in the 3000-meters women’s steeplechase, with Coburn taking home the gold and Frerichs the silver medal, thus becoming the first female Americans to win the gold and silver medal in any individual World Championships or Olympics race longer than 400 meters since the 1912 Stockholm Games.^[4] In that race, they outran four of the five fastest women in the world which included the world record holder and 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Ruth Jebet, the defending champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist, Hyvin Jepkemoi, the number one ranked runner in 2017, Beatrice Chepkoech, and Celliphine Chespol, second fastest in the world.

On July 20, 2018, at the Herculis meet in Monaco, she finished in second place behind Beatrice Chepkoech's world record 8:44.32 performance. Frerichs' time of 9:00.85 moved her ahead of Coburn for the American and North American (NACAC) records in the steeplechase and to 6th place on the all-time fastest list. Frerichs won the steeplechase NCAA title at the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships as a Lobo, setting a collegiate record of 9:24.41.