Consider a track and field athlete who is not selected for the Olympic team in an event in which she was previously the American champion. Her failure in the trial event was followed by her 10th place finish in the qualifying round and her hamstring injury subsequently. What could have been worse than this? Meanwhile, the athlete had to see the opponents finding places in the squad whom she had once defeated. Such a heartbreak can push someone into the dark pit of mental struggle. The mental struggle can subsequently put physical health at risk. Endless anguish and, eventually, the end of one’s career!

Krissy Gear had every sign of losing herself in the deep dark of failure. She could have accepted that fate being another athlete accepting defeat to mental struggle. Yet she stood up. She is even ready to share the dark phase she once faced. Remember, her words can give you goosebumps. 

Krissy Gear speaks on the struggle she faced 

On February 22, Krissy Gear shared her story with LetsRun.com right after her 800m event in the 2025 USA Indoor Championships. In the first round of the women’s 800m event in the Championships, she had a tight 2:00.56, claiming joint second place with Sage Hurta-Klecker. But later, the axe of disqualification fell on Krissy because of her several steps over the lane line during the race. Was she very tense about it? No. Rather, responding to the host’s question about her previous chances of quitting the sport, she revealed each bit of her struggle story. The track and field athlete eventually said, “There’s, like, the physical side of the sport and then there’s the mental side. And I think I have what it takes physically, but mentally, I, I was like, I don’t think I have what it takes to be competitive at this level because I’ve had a lot of mental fortitude and, like, people are not worried about pressure or expectations. And, um, I didn’t think that I would do that and I thought I was going to quit.” That’s hard. No? 

In the meantime, the 25-year-old shared a few more things, something about the general aspect of track and field athletes. Her words went on, “I mean, it’s fun when you’re running for fun, but like, I don’t know. Yeah. I feel like you have to not worry about what other people are saying about you, just be present, like, handle the stress and the pressure.” In the mixed zone, while shedding further focus on this, the American track and field athlete revealed something cryptic, a “toolbox,” preferably. As per her, this toolbox is something that every athlete has. However, that specific athlete requires specific “tools” to address every type of challenge. Fret not. The Hoka NAZ athlete revealed what those tools are. 

The track and field athlete finds her happy place among her known ones 

After her failed attempt in the US Olympic trials, Krissy Gear took a break. She utilized the break to find the needed “tools.” Fortunately, she found it during that time. For her, the first clue came when she returned to her home in Fort Myers. In those days, she had her ‘epiphany.’ She started to realize that the world around her was still evolving, irrespective of the level of effort put into everything. 

The bigger message came in her voice, “Like, it’s not the end of the world if I don’t hit one split exactly. And I kind of thought that it was last year. Um, so just, I don’t know, probably like life’s bigger than a sport and you can care about the sport without, like, I don’t know, letting it be such a detriment.” The thought process helped her to heal. The second one came from her former coach from Hoka NAZ Elite, Ben Rosario. 

In her interaction with LetsRun.com, she added that the incident was a lesson learned from Ben. Krissy Gear said, “Ben Rosario told me when I kind of had a meeting with him about, like, hey, I’m kind of like the correction, you know, he was like, like, you know, obviously take the sport seriously, take your, take the craft seriously, but, like, don’t take yourself seriously. I was like, wait, I kind of like that. So, yeah.” These are the tools she mentioned, and once she was benefitted by these tools. Do you have any takes on that?