Debbie Heald

Last updated

Debbie Heald (born 20 August 1955) is a former American track and field athlete, known for her success in middle-distance races. [1]

Contents

Early life

Heald is the daughter of Richard and Ernestine Heald. She grew up in La Mirada, California. [2]

Career

At the age of eleven, Heald was a member of the Hutchinson Track Club. [2] At a meet in Lancaster, she finished a mile race with a time of 5:33.9, which at the time was the fastest time recorded for a girl of her age. [3] By the time she was fourteen, Heald had won three state running championships and five district Amateur Athletic Union titles. She also held two national crowns. [4]

Heald defeated the then-current 1500m world record holder Tamara Pangelova of the USSR on March 17, 1972, at the Richmond Coliseum. [5] [6] [7] [8] Her win was a significant victory as it was during the height of the Cold War and prior to this the Soviets had predominantly dominated the sport. [9]

As well as winning, with that race Heald also set an American high school record for the indoor mile for girls track (with a time of 4:38.5), which stood for over 40 years, until finally broken on January 26, 2013, by Mary Cain. [10] [2] [11] [12] Until that time, Heald's record was the longest-standing of any girls' high school record. [13] [14]

Heald attended California State University, Fullerton, graduating with a degree in education. [9] Heald continued to train throughout her college years, but her career was progressively hampered by repeated injuries and tendonitis from overtraining, as well as a diagnosis of schizophrenia. [2]

In 2002, Heald carried the Olympic torch in Los Angeles on its nationwide tour in advance of the Winter Olympic Games at Salt Lake City. [9] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Decker</span> American middle-distance runner

Mary Teresa Slaney is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships and was the world-record holder in the mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. In total, she set 17 official and unofficial world records, and she was the first woman to break 4:20 for the mile. She also set 36 U.S. national records at distances ranging from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, and has held the U.S. record in the 2000 meters and 3000 meters since the early 1980s, while her 1500 meters record stood for 32 years and her mile record stood for 38 years. In 2003, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Brisco-Hooks</span> American sprinter (born 1960)

Valerie Brisco-Hooks is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympian to win gold medals in both the 200- and 400-meter races at a single Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millrose Games</span> Annual indoor athletics meet

The Millrose Games are an annual indoor athletics meet held each February in New York City. Among the world's most prestigious indoor track meets, the games started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Hasay</span> American long-distance runner

Jordan Melissa Hogan is an American distance runner. She grew up in Arroyo Grande, California, and attended Mission College Preparatory High School in San Luis Obispo. She was unanimously selected 2008 Girls High School Athlete of the Year by the voting panel at Track and Field News. In March 2009, she became the ninth high school athlete and third woman on the cover of Track and Field News magazine. She attended the University of Oregon, where she studied business administration and competed on the cross country and track and field teams earning 18 All-American honors, 2011 Mile and 3,000 meters NCAA titles. Her father was a high school basketball star in Pennsylvania, and her mother was a national level swimmer in her native England. Jordan Hasay is no longer coached by Alberto Salazar due to his suspension.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Simpson</span> American runner (born 1986)

Jennifer Simpson is an American middle- and long-distance runner, formerly a steeplechaser. She won the gold medal in the 1500 meters at the 2011 World Championships, silvers at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in the event.

Mary Cecilia Cain is an American professional middle distance runner from Bronxville, New York. Cain was the 2014 World Junior Champion in the 3000 meter event. She is the youngest American athlete ever to represent the United States at a track and field World Championships meet after competing in the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow aged 17 years and 3 months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Obera</span> American track and field athlete

Irene Romona Obera is an American track and field athlete, specializing in sprinting events. Over an extended career, she has set numerous world records and has won numerous world championships. She is currently a member of the W70 world record holding 4x100 metres relay team. She also holds the current American record in the W60 and W75 100 metres and the W75 200 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexa Efraimson</span> American middle-distance runner

Alexa Efraimson is an American former professional middle distance runner from Camas, Washington who competed for Nike. Efraimson is training and in graduate school to become a Registered Dietitian in 2022-24. During the 2014 indoor and outdoor season, as a junior, she set a pair of U.S. high-school records, breaking Mary Cain's 2013 mark in the indoor 3,000 meters (9:02.10) with a time of 9:00.16 and running 4:33.29 in the 1,600 meters to shave 0.53 seconds from Christine Babcock's 4:33.82, set in 2008. Efraimson captured the bronze medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2013 World (U18) Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Deborah Dawn "Debbie" Scott-Bowker is a Canadian former middle- and long-distance runner. A three-time Olympian for Canada, she reached the 1500 m final in 1984, and both the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1988. She was also a three-time World Championship finalist, reaching the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1987, and the 1500 m final in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Sisson</span> American long-distance runner (born 1991)

Emily Sisson is an American long-distance runner. She set the North American record in the marathon on 9 October 2022, when she ran 2:18:29 to finish second at the Chicago Marathon. Sisson also held the American record in the half marathon from May 2022 until July 2023. She represented the United States in the 10000 metres at the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships, finishing 9th and 10th. In June 2021, she won the 10000m at the 2020 US Olympic Trials and placed 10th in the 10000m final at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In 2024, she placed second in the marathon at the US Olympic Trials, qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone</span> American hurdler and sprinter (born 1999)

Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone is an American hurdler and sprinter who competes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record, and 2022 World champion. She set a world record time of 50.65 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 30, 2024. She is the first track athlete to break four world records in the same event: setting four world records during 13 months, she was the first woman to break the 52-second and 51-second barriers in the 400 m hurdles. She won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. At all three competitions, she also took gold as part of a women's 4 × 400 m relay team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katelyn Tuohy</span> American long-distance runner

Katelyn Tuohy is an American professional middle- and long-distance runner.

Taylor Ewert is an American long-distance runner and college track and field athlete for the University of Arkansas and Michigan State University. In high school, she set numerous records and was the cross country OHSAA Division I individual state champion in 2019, representing Beavercreek High School. Ewert committed to the University of Arkansas later that year, and in 2020, she was named the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weini Kelati</span> American middle- and long-distance runner (born 1996)

Weini Kelati Frezghi is an American middle and long distance runner. Born in Eritrea, she claimed asylum in the United States in July 2014 and subsequently achieved multiple victories in state and national level competitions while attending Heritage High School in Leesburg, Virginia. While competing for the University of New Mexico, Kelati won the 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juliette Whittaker</span> American middle-distance runner (born 2003)

Juliette Whittaker is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She is the 2024 NCAA Indoor 800 m champion and won a bronze medal at the 2022 World U20 Championships.

References

  1. ↑ Debbie Heald at World Athletics OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Debbie Heald Set an Important Record". Runner's World. 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  3. ↑ "Faces In The Crowd". Sports Illustrated. 17 July 1967
  4. ↑ "Faces In The Crowd". Sports Illustrated, 14 December 1970.
  5. ↑ United States. Congress (1972). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  6. ↑ Putnam, Pat. "THEY'RE SWEET 16 AND DESERVE A KISS". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  7. ↑ The Sports Illustrated Vault - SI.com
  8. ↑ Belson, Ken (16 February 2013). "High School Junior Makes Mile the Race to Watch". The New York Times.
  9. 1 2 3 Pucin, Diane (2002-01-14). "Rough Run". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  10. ↑ "Mary Cain shatters high school mile record after taking SATs". January 28, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Rock 'n' Roll Running Series". www.runrocknroll.com. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  12. ↑ "Women's Indoor High School Records".
  13. ↑ [High School Junior Makes Mile the Race to Watch"]. New York Times. KEN BELSON February 15, 2013
  14. ↑ "Mary Cain shatters high school mile record after taking SATs - USA TODAY High School Sports". Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2014-01-03.
  15. ↑ Janet Heinonen (1979). Sports illustrated running for women . Lippincott. ISBN   978-0-397-01331-9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.