Emma Coburn is an American middle distance runner and the United States National Champion in the 3000 meter steeplechase.
Education
Emma Coburn finished second in the 2008 Nike Outdoor Nationals Track and Field Championships in 2000 meter steeplechase in 6:42. She attended Crested Butte Community school. During her senior year in cross country Coburn finished in 20th place over the six kilometer distance at the National Collegiate Athletic Association national cross country championships and was Colorado"s 2nd place runner contributing to an 11th-place team finish.
Career
In the 2011 IAAF world Athletics championships she was the only American to make the steeplechase final, finishing 12th. She came in 9th in the 3000 meter steeplechase at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In her first steeplechase of the 2012 season Emma Coburn became the fourth fastest American in history and the fastest American on United States soil with her time of 9:25.28.
The time was also a 12-second Puerto Rico for Coburn, who redshirted the 2012 outdoor season at the University of Colorado to focus on the Olympic Trials.
Coburn was named the Pac-12 Track Athlete of the Week on April 30, 2013 after recording the best 3,000 steeplechase time in the world for the season. Coburn qualified for the 2012 United States. Olympic team in the 3000 meter steeplechase, joined in the event by her University of Colorado teammate Shalaya Kipp.
At age 21, Coburn was the youngest runner on the American team at the 2012 Olympics. In her Olympic heat, she placed third with a time of 9:27.51, automatically qualifying for the Olympic final.
She came in 9th in the final, with a time of 9:23.54 - a then personal best.
In 2014, Coburn improved her 3000 m steeplechase best four times. At the Paris Diamond League meeting she ran a 9:14.72 for a second-place finish. This moved her to second on the United States all-time list behind Jenny Simpson.
Then at the diamond league meet in Glasgow Grand Prix, Scotland, she broke Simpson"s United States record of 9:12.51, by running 9:11.42 and finishing second in the race to Ethiopian Hiwot Ayalew.
In 2015, Emma"s indoor mile ranks 28th in the world and came back later that day to set a personal best in the 2000 meters 5:41.11.