One of Editor & Publisher’s ‘10 That Do It Right 2021’

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Susannah Scaroni smiles after setting a world record with a time of 10 minutes, 38.46 seconds in the women’s T53/54 5,000 meters on May 29 at the Daniela Jutzeler Memorial race during the Para Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland.

Susannah Scaroni, right, holds up her gold medal from the Tokyo Paralympics as President Joe Biden takes a selfie during a White House reception for Paralympains this spring in Washington, D.C.

Susannah Scaroni smiles after setting a world record with a time of 10 minutes, 38.46 seconds in the women’s T53/54 5,000 meters on May 29 at the Daniela Jutzeler Memorial race during the Para Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland.

Susannah Scaroni, right, holds up her gold medal from the Tokyo Paralympics as President Joe Biden takes a selfie during a White House reception for Paralympains this spring in Washington, D.C.

University of Illinois graduate Susannah Scaroni has been tearing up the track and roads in the past couple of months, setting records in almost every race she’s entered — all while resuming training after an injury that could have ended her racing career.

Scaroni had her eye on the 5,000-meter world record when she raced at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in late May in Switzerland. She had come within one second of the world record for the T54 5,000 meters at the Tokyo Paralympics last summer. If the Grand Prix race unfolded in a way that gave her an opportunity for the record, she planned to go for it.

But, “win or lose, it would still be a win for me, because I didn’t know if I’d be racing again,” Scaroni said.

Just two weeks after the Paralympics, while training on Windsor Road in September 2021, she was struck by a car, leaving her with a fractured vertebrae. She spent four months in a back brace before she was able to start training again in January.

Scaroni set a world record at the May 29 5,000-meter race at the Grand Prix — in the Jutzeler Memorial race, named for Swiss racer Daniela Jutzeler, who in 1994 was struck by a car and killed while training. Scaroni’s time of 10 minutes, 38.46 seconds bettered the former world record by 13 seconds.

Her world-record win there came in the midst of a busy racing season. Since early May, Scaroni also has won the Indy Mini half-marathon, the Lilac Bloomsday 12K in Spokane, Wash., and the Chicago Spring Half Marathon.

Since her world record 5,000-meter race, Scaroni has set a world’s best 10K time of 21:10 on June 11 at the Mastercard New York Mini 10K in New York City, a time that is not an official world record because the course is not eligible for that standard. She set an official 10K world record while winning the Boston Athletic Association 10K on June 26, where she was the first overall finisher in 21:56, beating the men’s wheelchair winner of the race that day as well. She beat the previous record, held by Tatyana McFadden, by more than a minute and a half.

She won the women’s wheelchair division at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., on June 18, setting a new course record in 1:27:31 — a world’s best time that also would be a marathon world record except that the course at Grandma’s does not qualify for world records because of its elevation drop. And she won the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta on July 4 in 21:14, a new course record (in another race that doesn’t qualify for official records because of its elevation drop).

“The lead-up to this season was very different from any other year for me. I was trying to get used to pushing again and trying to strengthen my back,” Scaroni said. “It was really eye-opening how weak my back was. It was hard to do a lot of things in the gym that I could before. Rotating my back was really challenging.”

Scaroni said she learned a lot about adjusting her workouts from teammates who have different spinal-cord injuries than she does. Knowing teammates who are able to deal with those challenges made it easier and less scary for her, she said.

The April 18 Boston Marathon was her first race after her injury. When the Boston race officials asked her in January to race, she didn’t really believe she would be there in April. She was uncharacteristically nervous before Boston, which was the first time she covered the marathon distance post-injury. Her back hurt during the marathon, but she said she was grateful to be racing again and was pleased with her performance, finishing second.

Scaroni has been spending a lot of time training on the track this spring. It is still hard for her psychologically to train on the road. Pushing alongside other athletes from her team helps her feel safer.

“I have a lot more awareness of cars behind me. I’m almost constantly looking back, which is not great,” Scaroni said. “I really value that we have a team here. It is hard for me, because I truly love pushing alone, when I can focus on my own pace. I know how good I feel when alone, but it’s harder for me to be alone now.”

With her busy spring and early racing season done, she’ll now take a break from competition and focus her training on the fall marathon season to prepare for the Berlin, London, Chicago and New York marathons.

“I’m confident that I’ll be ready for the fall,” Scaroni said.

Jodi Heckel, a writer for the University of Illinois News Bureau, is a runner and triathlete. You can email her at prairieathlete@gmail.com or follow her at twitter.com/jodiheckel. Her blog is at news-gazette.com/blogs/starting-line.