'See you next year': Abby Steiner shuts down season after heel injury
Abby Steiner's track season is over.
After finishing fourth in the 200m race at the USA Track & Field Championships, the former Dublin Coffman star announced that she would be shutting down the rest of her track season to have surgery to remove a bone spur in her left heel that has been pressing against her Achilles tendon.
Steiner said it's been an injury she has been running through for at least six months.
"Showed up to meets, practices, workouts in pain every day," she wrote on Instagram. "Showed up with a lot of grit and a whole lot of love for the sport.
"A lot of people asked me why I didn’t quit if I was so injured. Quitting was never an option to me. It was never an option to give up without doing everything possible to make that team going to Budapest. Despite all my efforts, it didn’t come together. I’ll be shutting down my season early to get surgery to get back to being pain free again.
"And I’m still not quitting. Just attacking the season in a way that’s different than I’d hoped with rehab and healing and taking care of my mental. Sending my love and support to all the athletes still competing. Please be kind to everyone.
"See you next year."
In her last race of the 2023 season, Steiner finished the 200m in 22.07 behind Gabby Thomas, Sha'Carri Richardson and Kayla White.
"It was great to make it to the final, and when you are in the final anything can happen," Steiner told FloSports after the race. "It's been a long season for me, just battling some injuries. Making the team was a win, but also giving myself some time for recovery was a win too. Just got to take care of my body and get ready for next year."
Steiner won the 200m in the 2022 USA Track & Field Championships, finishing in 21.77 seconds.
Steiner signed with PUMA, going pro after earning four NCAA titles and becoming a 15-time All-American at Kentucky. She holds the American collegiate, Southeastern Conference and Kentucky records in the indoor 200-meters, along with holding collegiate, SEC and school records in the outdoor 200-meter dash and 300-meters.
Before Kentucky, Steiner won four straight state titles in the 200-meter dash at Coffman, along with three in the 100-meter dash in her final three years of high school.
Steiner was also a district Player of the Year in soccer, helping lead Coffman to a Division 1 state runner-up finish in 2014.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Abby Steiner, Dublin Coffman graduate, shuts down 2023 track season
