Injured Kate Grace Breaks Silence on Fall at US Olympic Track & Field Trials: “Didn’t Hit My Head”

The women’s 800m semi-finals at the 2024 US Track and Field Olympic Trials were nothing short of a nail-biter! The race was incredibly competitive, with Michaela Rose leading the pack for most of the race. But as the finish line approached, reigning Olympic champion Athing Mu and 2016 Olympian Kate Grace made their moves, setting the stage for a dramatic conclusion.

In the final stretch, Rose, Mu, and Grace were neck and neck. In a tense moment, Rose and Grace bumped into each other right at the finish line. Grace, pushing hard, ended up crashing out of bounds into the scoreboard as she crossed the line. It was a heart-stopping finish, with Athing Mu clinching the win thanks to her impressive kick, clocking in at 1:58.84. Kate Grace followed closely with a season-best 1:58.97, and Michaela Rose finished third in 1:59.00, having led the entire race. Grace’s collision with the time clock was a dramatic sight, and she took quite a fall.

EssentiallySports caught the action live, reporting that Kate Grace looked bruised with bleeding scratches on her hands and abdomen after the race. Despite the scare, Grace reassured everyone in the post-race interview, saying to Chris Chavez of CITUS MAG, “Everything was clean. I didn’t hit my head. I came down hard on my arms and my legs and my hip but my head is what we care about the most.”

This semi-final saw Athing Mu and Kate Grace secure their spots in the women’s 800m final, joining a formidable lineup of U.S. Olympic Trials 800m finalists: Michaela Rose, Juliette Whittaker, Allie Wilson, Kristie Schoffield, Nia Akins, Raevyn Rogers, and Sage Hurta-Klecker. As we reflect on this edge-of-your-seat thriller, let’s see how this marks an epic comeback by Olympic champion Athing Mu, whose season was fraught with injuries that kept her away for half the year.

Comeback of 2021 Tokyo Olympics track and field champion Athing Mu on her second Olympic run to Paris 2024

This year, countless fans eagerly awaited the return of Athing Mu, the youngest woman ever to hold both Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field event. However, her season opener was postponed not once, but four times. Initially, Mu planned to compete at the Oxy Invitational in early May and then at the Los Angeles Grand Prix on May 18, but she delayed to avoid aggravating a hamstring injury.

She also pulled out of the women’s 800-meter race at the Prefontaine Classic on May 25 and had to withdraw from the 400m at the LA Grand Prix, despite being scheduled to race. After the epic women’s 800m semi-finals at the 2024 US Track and Field Olympic Trials in Tracktown, Athing Mu was asked by Jonathan Gault of LetsRun.com when her hamstring injury first appeared. She said it occured in April this year, which caused her to miss “a while.”

When Gault followed up on when she started to run again, she said it’d been “a few weeks.” To see her make her season debut just days ago and now already qualify for the women’s 800m final shows the immense resilience of the 2022 World Champion. With the women’s 800m final scheduled for Monday, June 24th, who are you rooting for? Share your thoughts in the comments below!