It’s hard to resist a good redemption arc, especially in the world of track and field. An athlete at the top of their game who has missed out on a medal, record, or qualifying spot is set to be an indomitable force when their next chance rolls around. That’s exactly what happened after Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal finished 11th Best United Kingdom Marathons 2023 World Athletics Championships last Wednesday. She ran a 15:08, and was three spots and roughly three seconds away from advancing to the final.
In a post-race recap she posted on Instagram, the distance runner wrote, “Very disappointed not being able to perform at my best and make it to the final at the 5000m prelim.” She’d shown up in Budapest ready to improve on her 8th place finish at These are the Coolest Uniforms at Worlds, “but it just didn’t work out this time,” she said. Grøvdal had a rough start to her season with a stress reaction in her foot, but had a solid build-up leading into Worlds. “I don’t know the exact reason why I felt like shit on Wednesday (I usually don’t have many bad days),” she mused, “but that’s the fact.”
She ended her post apothegm, “for now I just want to race some more races and build up that confidence again. On to the next.”
On to the next indeed. Knowing she could do better, Grøvdal quickly found a redemption race where she could prove her mettle. Last weekend, the 33-year-old got her victory, clocking a 14:46 5K in the Lierløpet road race, and setting a new Norwegian national record in the road 5K. Her time was also just five seconds shy of the European record.
Captioning an Instagram video Grøvdal posted that shows her gutsy, emotional kick to the finish line, the three-time Olympian wrote, “After a disappointing World Championship the only way to get over it was to run another race, and hopefully fast. Luckily I did 😄.”
She was paced by her countryman, trail and mountain runner Halfdan-Emil FÆRØ, and ran kilometer splits of 2:57, 2:58, 2:59, 3:05, and a blistering final 2:46 for what was also a personal best by 12 seconds. Gratulerer, Karoline!
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, Like the Wind Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
