Laura Thweatt pulled out of the IAAF World Championships on Wednesday.
Thweatt, 28, was named to the USA Track & Field marathon team for the world championships May 11. Less than a month later, a lingering injury forced her to surrender her place on the team for the championships set to be held in August in London. Thweatt made the announcement on her Twitter page Wednesday morning, saying she was “shattered” to withdraw. She said it was important to give another runner an opportunity and give the U.S. marathon team its strongest possible roster.
“I thought about giving it another three or four weeks and see if I could turn it around and piece together training,” Thweatt said in an interview with The Durango Herald, “but it’s not fair to the two women already on the team or to someone else who is going to be able to race much better than I would be able to.”
Thweatt, a 2007 Durango High School graduate, ran the London Marathon and finished sixth overall in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 38 seconds. She was the top American woman.
That performance backed up her 2015 New York City Marathon time of 2:28:23, which was good for seventh overall and again was the top performance by an American woman.
Thweatt attempted to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the 10,000-meter run and the 5,000-meter run but fell short of the top three in both events and did not qualify.
Later, she revealed her struggle with a pelvic injury, osteitis pubius, an injury that she continued to battle during the leadup to the London Marathon. Still, she finished second at the USA Track & Field Cross Country Championships in February and put on the strong performance at the London Marathon as she transitions her carer focus to the 26.2-mile distance.
Thweatt said the injury brought pain after long training runs building up to London, but she didn’t feel it got worse after London. But the pain persisted. The day she was named to Team USA for the world championships, she was home in Boulder receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection hoping to heal the inflamed joints.
“We were obvisouly trying to turn around and do everything we possibly could to get me to the start line,” Thweatt said. “I wanted to be able to race at a world championship. I did the PRP injection hoping it would accelerate things on the time limit I was working with, but I couldn’t get over a 20- or 30-minute run without pain.”
Thweatt said her doctors, physical therapist and coach looked at her long-term health and the possible detriment continuing to train and compete could cause. When it became clear it could have an effect on the rest of her career, she knew it was time to shut down training.
“It was looking at whether or not we could be as lucky as we were in London, and we thought probably not,” she said. “I could get myself to the start line, but the time needed to recover fully and train to compete the way I wanted to wasn’t going to be possible. It’s a tough decision.”
After her announcement Wednesday, she received support on Twitter from several top runners in the U.S.
“Im so sorry Laura! Rest and heal up,” Shalane Flanagan wrote.
“Hard but smart decision. Hoping this time off gets you back to 100%. Big things ahead!,” Kellyn Taylor wrote.
Thweatt said that support will help push her through rehabilitation over the next four to six weeks, and she hopes to return to competition later in the year to finish 2017 on a strong note.
“As hard as these decisions are and as bad as you feel afterward, even knowing you’re doing the right thing, it doesn’t make it any easier in the moment,” Thweatt said.
“The support from my family, friends and fellow competitors means the world and makes it that much easier to put my head down and focus on the recovery process to get back healthy.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
