Jager withdraws from US Trials

Olympic silver medalist Evan Jager has announced he will not contest the upcoming US Olympic Trials after failing to recover his health and fitness after a string of injury problems, the most recent of which were multiple tears in his calf.

"I wanted to make a video laying out how the last few months has gone for me," he said in an Instagram post. "Unfortunately my reality is I'm not going to be running the trials this year, which sucks. I've had quite a few issues this year, stemming back to the middle of February, rolling my ankle really bad. Getting back into training quickly then developing an achilles issue which lasted all of March until the middle of April, essentially being unable to run for that entire period."

"I started working out with the guys on the team again and got two weeks of running and workouts in before rabbiting Sean (McGorty) in the steeple at Mount Sac and that went well enough that I was extremely optimistic. I had six weeks to get in better shape."

Jager explained he then developed a calf issue following track workouts that plagued him for several weeks.

"It got to the point where it was tight all the time and I was not in a place where I could even work out at a high level. I didn't have the ability to run fast without doing major damage. I got an ultrasound and the doctor found a pool of blood in the soleus/achilles area and he told me he thought I had torn the lateral soleus. I had to make the decision that running the Trials wasn't an option. We got an MRI and not only did I tear the lateral soleus, we tore the lateral gastroc(nemius), I had in total about 16cm of tearing. It showed me we made the right decision in shutting things down and doing everything I can to get healthy.

"It's obviously very disappointing, especially after not being able to run USA's in 2019 and knowing this winter that I had the fitness to make the team - training was going well until March - but with trials looming I felt I was constantly in this place of rushing to get back. It really sucks."

Jager gets back on track at Mt. Sac

Evan Jager opened his outdoor season with pacing duties for his teammate Sean McGorty at the USATF Golden Games in Mt. Sac, California on Sunday.

The 32-year-old paced his teammate to two kilometers before stepping off the track and it proved a job well done for the Olympic silver medalist as McGorty went on to make a superb debut at the event by winning in 8:20.77.

“So happy for (Sean) to get a win in his Steeple debut,” Jager wrote on Instagram after the race. “I feel like a proud dad. Mt. Sac just so happens to be where I also got my first Steeple win in my debut, 9 years ago. Last night was always just about pacing through 2k for me. It was a nice introduction back into the steeple for me after almost a 3 year absence from the event. About a week ago I did my first few water jumps since August 2018 and last night I more than doubled that number. It felt really good getting back to my event and I’m excited to continue that momentum these next 6 weeks getting ready for the Olympic Trials.”

Image: Cortney White

Jager closes out track season

It was a summer defined by uncertainty, but Evan Jager nonetheless made the most of it. The Bowerman Track club athlete wrapped up his brief track season with a series of intra-squad races among the BTC crew in Portland in recent weeks.

Having clocked a 13:12.12 5000m in June and a 3:36.31 1500m in July, he took part in an elimination 2000m with his BTC teammates last Friday to round out his season, finishing third behind Mohammed Ahmed and Sean McGorty in 5:11.42.

Watch his final race of the summer here.

Image: Cortney White

Jager gets outdoor season rolling

Evan Jager kicked off his outdoor track season with a pair of impressive performances in recent weeks at Bowerman Track Club Intra-squad meets in Portland.

On June 30, he finished third in 13:12.12 behind teammates Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher over 5000m and on July 21, he finished third in a 1500m in 3:36.31.

Jager will be in action again in the coming weeks as competition slowly starts to resume across the country.

Image: Cortney White

Jager opens up about long road back

In a story for the Spikes website, Evan Jager detailed his battle with injury over the past two seasons and the steps he’s taken to return to full health ahead of his tilt at a second Olympic medal in Tokyo next year.

The 31-year-old explained how the root of his injury traced back to the summer of 2018, when he picked up a stress fracture while racing in Zurich.

“I ran okay on the night, finished third, but I can remember landing heavily at one of the water jumps which, as I learned many months later, caused an impact fracture in the talus bone in my ankle,” wrote Jager.

“It was misdiagnosed at first, and after seven weeks off it didn’t feel any better. I got back running, but every step hurt. I could train, but as runners we know our bodies and I knew something was wrong. The hardest bit was trying to run and not think about my foot on every step. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting, having to grit through that every day. It sucked all the enjoyment out of running.”

After regaining his health in 2019, Jager set about launching a comeback though it wasn’t until February this year that he was able to make a return to racing, winning a mile race in Seattle in 3:56. He believes the injury granted him a new perspective.

“Since the injury, I’ve improved every couple of weeks and when I reflect on these past few years, I notice that the time away has changed my mentality. In 2017 and 2018 I was starting to treat track more like work – getting really, really intense – and that came from trying to be so professional that I wanted to do every little thing right. It took the enjoyment out of it a little, but I’ve realised that I can be light-hearted and have fun at the same time as being dialled in. I run my best when I’m enjoying myself and things are going well as opposed to stressing about running fast and hitting workouts perfectly.

“Right now, none of us know exactly when we’ll get back competing so the best approach is to enjoy the everyday. That’s what I’ve been trying to do this past month or two: push myself as hard as I can but do it from a place where I think: This isn’t what I have to do, this is what I enjoy.”

Jager impresses over 3K in Seattle

Evan Jager continued his impressive comeback from injury with another strong performance over 3000m last weekend, finishing behind Bowerman Track Club teammates Lopez Lomong and Marc Scott when clocking 7:46.24 in Seattle. Lomong took victory in 7:45.82 with Scott second in 7:46.11.

Jager had commenced his return to racing two weeks earlier, clocking a 3:56.50 mile in Seattle.

Image: Talbot Cox / Jay Bendlin