Simpson makes easy jump from steeple to 1,500
Jenny Simpson practiced equestrian as a kid, guiding horses over jumps. When she went to college, she competed in a different sort of jumping as a steeplechase athlete.
In 2008, when the women’s 3,000meter steeplechase made its Olympic debut, she advanced to the final and finished ninth. A year later, she set the American record.
In the 2011 world championships, all of that experience paid off.
Simpson, a three-time NCAA champion in steeplechase at the University of Colorado, won an unexpected world title in the 1,500 — an event she switched to after injuring her femur in 2010. She said the injury was caused in part by the rigorous steeplechase training, which involves jumping over 35 barriers.
Now training at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Simpson, 25, will compete at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday and then at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York on June 9. Then she’ll return to Eugene for the U.S. Olympic trials, where 1,500 qualifying begins June 28.
It was a really difficult year for me, and I made the finals at world championships. I remember standing on the starting line and just thinking, “I’m healthy. I made it this far. I’m at the finals. I couldn’t ask for anything more.” … When it did turn out so beautifully and I did win, I think that’s why I was so shocked.
Racing at this level, it’s such a small margin of error, and it can be so fickle at times between a great race and a mediocre race. So I don’t feel like I carry this huge burden to come back with a medal this year.
I really enjoy reading. … It’s a little bit out of my norm, but it’s called Wind, Sand and Stars by An- toine de Saint-Exupéry, and I’ve read it before. But it’s just a great book about flying and aviation and his experiences, kind of in the ’30s and ’40s as a pilot. He was a French pilot.
I don’t read about aviation very often, so it’s kind of funny I’m at the Air Force Academy and I’m reading about flying planes.
My dad is a college professor, and I always loved school. I think the fact that my dad was an educator, that was really influential. As I started to do well in running in high school, people were telling me, “You could probably get a college scholarship.” That to me, it wasn’t like, “Oh my gosh, I can run in college.” I was thinking, “I could probably leave the state and go to a really good school.”
I definitely love racing more than I love training. … There are times where I’ve run and I have my workout over with and I’m driving home, and I see people like on the trails running and I just think, “Oh, that looks horrible.” And I just finished doing the same thing.