Val Constien heads to U.S. Track and Field Trials as a favorite to make her second Olympic team
The Battle Mountain alumna heads to Hayward Field with the second-best seed time in the 3000-meter steeplechase
Val Constien’s life now is a lot different than it was three years ago.
At the 2021 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials, the Battle Mountain alumna punched her ticket to the Tokyo Olympics with a surprise third-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Before even making the trip to Hayward Field, however, the then-unsponsored runner knew the cost of flights and hotels was well out of her price range.
“I actually had to dip into my savings and ask my parents for help to get there,” recalled Constien, who’d made less than $20,000 during the pandemic year, all while being let go from three different jobs.
“So, it was a lot more stressful from a financial situation.”
Now, the Boulder-based Nike athlete balances running with her full-time job as a quality assurance specialist at STRYD. She’ll return to the University of Oregon’s hallowed track next week for the 2024 Trials with more than just financial security.
Support Local Journalism
After countless tribulations — multiple illnesses, stress fractures, a torn ACL and shoe contract snubs — Constien’s convictions, desires and sense of purpose are stronger than ever.
So is her ability.
“There had always been that shroud of doubt. You know, shoe companies don’t believe in me, or else they would sign me. These bigger races, if they believed in me, they would accept me,” Constien said. “And now that I have some of these things, I think I’m just starting to believe in myself, finally.”
Recent performances are a big reason why. She’ll toe the line on Monday for the steeplechase prelims as one of the favorites to make the Paris Olympic Games later this summer. Constien posted the seventh-fastest time in American history last month at the Prefontaine Classic, crossing the finish line in 9 minutes, 14.29 seconds. It’s the second-fastest time in the country, only behind Hoka NAZ Elite runner Kristlin Gear (9:12.81). More impressively, perhaps, is the fact that Constien’s run came almost exactly one year after her double knee ACL surgery at the Steadman Clinic.
In other words, Constien didn’t just return from a potentially career-ending injury — she got better.
“I think probably the biggest thing that’s made me make that leap has been a different mindset,” she said. “Having all of these things happen to me — having to be super patient with a running contract, fighting injuries and illness — everything has made me very tough and very patient.”
Another factor has been nutrition. After experiencing intestinal discomfort post-surgery, Constien was finally diagnosed with celiac disease in January. She said going gluten-free has been “incredibly beneficial.”
“I feel like I can recover faster,” she said. “I feel like I’m actually digesting and absorbing nutrients.”
Years of being overlooked has also forced Constien to examine some foundational motivations.
“I was like, ‘OK, how badly do I want this?’ And I just want it really, really bad. I want it more than a lot of other people,” she said. “I think that’s just kind of turned me into this person I am today.”
She also knows she wouldn’t be the person she is today — someone who bets on herself while flying sometimes unjustifiably under the radar — without remembering where she came from.
“I think about myself in high school all the time and I think about how I never won a state championship, I never competed at a national level … I was very much just this local who just wanted to run,” she said.
“I think most of my school records have been taken down by up-and-coming stars. So, I have to remember roots and the humility I came from,” she said.
The fact that only her triple jump record — of all things — still stands, serves as another important reminder she can apply to the state of the U.S. steeplechase scene: the next generation is always coming.
With longstanding stalwarts Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs injured, the door is certainly wide open. But the field is talented. National champion Courtney Wayment’s qualifying mark is just 0.19-seconds behind Constien. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Olivia Markezich (9:17.36) and 25-year-old Gabrielle Jennings (9:18.03) lurk as a potential dream-destroying chase pack. In the cutthroat world of professional distance running contracts, a fourth-place trials finish isn’t just tragic — it can have permanent career ramifications.
But Constien, whose two-year Nike contract will be up in 2025, doesn’t think about that pressure. She didn’t when she was unsponsored in 2021 and 2022. And she didn’t when she got sponsored and proceeded to tear her ACL a week later.
“I just do this because I love it,” said the 28-year-old. “Whether Nike sponsored me or didn’t sponsor me, I’d still be here doing this. I’d still be who I am right now.”
“Sure the financials and gear is nice,” she continued, admitting she’d race in the shoes anyway. “But I’d still be out here, getting up early, going to bed late, just trying to make this dream come true.”
