Colorado University Athletics
Track and Field
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Olympian Emma Coburn signed with New Balance after finishing up her storied career with the Buffs in the summer of 2013 and stayed on to train with CU coaches Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs. She is serving as a volunteer assistant with the Buffs for her second season. In her first season as a professional, Coburn ran the fastest American women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase time at the Glasgow British Athletics Diamond League (9:11.42) and won her third USA Steeplechase title.
Coburn became just the third CU student-athlete with eligibility remaining to qualify for the Summer Olympic Games in 2012 after winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the steeplechase. She ran the fastest steeplechase time on U.S. soil (9:25.28) at the 2012 Nike Prefontaine Classic in a field of professional athletes while she was still a collegian.
The Crested Butte, Colo. native left her mark on CU’s record book. Indoors, she is the second-best performer in the mile (4:29.86) and sixth in the 3,000 (9:17.46). Coburn ran the anchor leg in the CU record-setting distance medley relay that placed fourth at the 2011 Big 12 Indoor Championship with a time of 11:22.87. Nationally, she is the fifth fastest performer in the mile and is the only American to run a sub-4:30 mile twice, both during the 2013 season. Outdoors, she is the second fastest CU performer in the steeplechase (9:23:54) and in the 1,500 (4:06.87). Nationally, she ranks second in the steeplechase (9:28.26) and fifth in the 1,500 (4:06.87). Coburn was one of two collegiate women to ever run a sub-9:30 steeplechase and did it twice in a CU uniform. She finished her career as a six-time All-American and won three NCAA titles. She is the first CU athlete to ever win an indoor mile title (2011) and took home the 2011 and 2013 NCAA steeplechase crowns.
Coburn graduated from CU in 2013 with a degree in marketing.
