Abby Steiner has concrete goals as she continues to go faster and faster

Abby Steiner has been hard to catch this season. (Photo by UK Athletics)

Could Abby Steiner be the best athlete at the University of Kentucky?

With the overall talent in so many sports at UK today, that’s hard to know. However, she might be the best at her sport of anyone on the Kentucky campus.

Recently she ran the 200-meter dash in 22.05 seconds — an outdoor personal best and third fastest in collegiate history — at UK’s only home meet this season to earn SEC Runner of the Week honors again as well as national runner of the week by the nation’s track coaches. She ran the fifth fastest 100-meter dash in collegiate history (10.82 seconds) in late-March which was the second fastest time in the world this year.

She broke the then-Southeastern Conference record in the women’s indoor 200 in 22.09 and then went on to run a 22.16 to win the NCAA Championship. Those were the two fastest collegiate 200 runs ever.

Not bad at all considering a year ago Steiner had an Achilles tendon injury that ended her chance to make the 2021 U.S. Olympic team.

She still remembers having to shut down her training in hopes of getting a qualifying time for the outdoor national championship.

“Now I am in just such a better place physically,” Steiner said. “I am so happy with how it is all going. My future is more clear. I have had a better plan for this outdoor season and my goals are more concrete.”

“We still watch and monitor (the Achilles) but it is not at the forefront of my brain. We have a good idea of how to manage it. My coach does not have to ask me after every rep about it and I don’t have to constantly get treatment. I’ve been able to put last year behind me and just run.”

Steiner admits some of her times have been “mind-blowing” and she’s tried not to alter her approach to the outdoor season after back to back dominant indoor seasons.

She plans her race strategy and is always asking questions about race execution that might improve her performance.

Isn’t running the 200 or 100 just about going as fast as you can?

“That’s what I thought too. Before I got to Kentucky I would just try to run fast,” Steiner said. “Now I like visualizing what I’m going to do.”

Kentucky assistant coach Tim Hall breaks down what he wants at the start of races and during the run. Steiner tries to visualize all that before she runs.

“I’m just thankful for the opportunities I have and can’t wait to see what I can keep doing,” she said.

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The SEC Championships will be May 12-14 in Oxford, Miss., and the NCAA East Regionals will be May 25-28 in Bloomington, Ind. The NCAA Championships will be June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore.