Just one week after signing with Nike, 27-year-old Val Constien was excited to make her Diamond League debut in Doha on May 5. But things didn’t go as planned.
On the second lap of the 3000-meter steeplechase, the 2020 Olympian landed funny in the water pit and hyperextended her knee. Visibly pained, she collapsed to the side of the track, ending her race.
What she thought was a sprain turned out to be a torn ACL, a crushing blow to Constien’s racing season. She would no longer be lining up for the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships, nor for the upcoming World Championships in August. It was a major disappointment in what was shaping up to be her best season yet, and a chance to prove “her underdog 2021 Olympic story wasn’t a fluke,” as Vail Daily news writer Ryan Sederquist put it.
On May 23, a friend drove Constien to the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, for ACL reconstruction surgery. With her leg muscles marked up with surgery lines and words written in purple ink, Dr. Matthew Provencher, a respected shoulder and knee orthopedic surgeon specialist, assured his patient she’d be ready to make another Olympic run next year: “We’re going to get you back for Paris.”
CA Notice at Collection YouTube vlog, Constien takes viewers behind the scenes of her surgery. The day of the operation, she told the camera, “I’m a little nervous, but I’ll be okay.”
She and her doctor get into the medical nitty gritty, documenting the relevance of the knee problems Constien had in college when she was running for the University of Colorado. Surgery was deemed unnecessary back then in 2016, but her chronic patellar tendonitis on the right side was a factor in ACL reconstruction.
“Because of that patellar tendonitis, [Dr. Provencher] doesn’t feel super confident about using the right patella to fix the right ACL,” Constien said in the video. “So he’s actually going to go in and take a piece of the left patella tendon to fix my right ACL. And, I guess this isn’t an uncommon thing to do.”
On the other side, Provencher said everything went smoothly, and he recommended crutches for one to two weeks post-operation. The video shows Constien arriving home, where she says that she’s heard the first couple of days are the hardest. “I really just need to be patient and really gentle with my body and be okay when things are hard and when things are painful,” she said.
Noah Lyles Rolls to 200-Meter Win at the Trials Instagram, writing, “I had surgery, and these last few days post-op have been really tough. The pain has been a challenge to manage, but my lack of mobility has been the hardest.” She continued, “I'm trying to stay positive and take it day by day. I knew this journey would be difficult, and it’s certainly lived up to the hype!”
Much of the swelling went down 10 days after the surgery, and she’s been documenting her recovery and physical therapy journey at Howard Head Sports Medicine Clinic in Breckenridge, Colorado. She plans to continue chronicling her healing process, focusing her next video on PT and her two-week check-in at the Steadman Clinic.
Her Olympic teammate, Emma Coburn, commented words of encouragement on Constien’s pre-surgery post, writing, “You’ll be strong and ready for 2024!”
Coburn has experienced her own stinging setbacks, including a sacral stress fracture in her back during her first season as a pro, and a last lap stumble over the barrier during the 3,000-meter steeplechase in Tokyo.
With Coburn and Provencher in her court, it’s just a matter of time, patience, and a whole lot of rehab till Constien has another shot at proving her mettle on the world stage.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Nutrition - Weight Loss, Tim Clayton - Corbis, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
