Canadian steeplechaser Charlotte Prouse shares her long road back to racing

Jan. 28 was a day to remember for Charlotte Prouse of London, Ont. After a two-year hiatus from track and field while battling an eating disorder, she returned to run a 13-second personal best over 3,000m indoors in Boston, breaking the nine-minute barrier.

“Lining back up and crossing that finish line in Boston was incredible,” says Prouse. “This achievement would not have been possible without the team effort of those around me—caring for me as a runner and person.”

Growing up in London, Prouse was a successful runner in high school, winning a staggering nine Ontario championships (OFSAA) in track and cross-country. Her success led to a scholarship to the University of Washington, where she reached the NCAA 3,000m steeplechase final as a freshman; she placed sixth overall at the 2016 World U20 Championships in Poland.

After her sixth-place finish at worlds, things changed for Prouse. Now she was one of the best up-and-coming steeplechasers in the world, and she had felt she had to live up to others’ expectations–as well as her own. “When you are top 10 in the world or top five at NCAA’s, you always want more,” says Prouse.

When she returned to the NCAA, she battled injuries and developed a negative relationship with food and recovery. “I loved my freshman year, but my sophomore year was very different,” she says. “In the end, Washington was not the place for me. I was not going to be happy and healthy there.” 

That spring, Prouse knew she needed a change of scene, and joined forces with University of New Mexico (UNM) steeple coach Jimmy Butler, who had also coached U.S. Olympic silver medallist Courtney Frerichs before she joined the Bowerman Track Club in 2016.

Over the next two seasons, Prouse returned to the top, winning NCAA’s as a team at UNM and placing second in the steeplechase at the 2018 NCAA championships. “‘I knew I needed to get back to where I needed to be,” she says.

But even with her success at UNM, Prouse was still at war with her weight. “I was now on a team with some of the best female runners in the NCAA, and you always want to be on that travel roster,” she says. “I wanted to contribute, so I always band-aided myself through seasons without looking at the bigger picture.”

In 2021, Prouse’s UNM steeple coach, Butler, died suddenly at age 41. It was a huge shock, but also a wake-up call. Prouse decided to take some time away from the sport.

“The toughest thing I had to realize was that running was always going to be there for me,” she says. “I wasn’t healthy, and if I didn’t stop and take care of myself, I knew I wasn’t going to get there.”

Prouse continued to work with her dietitian from UNM to get more comfortable with gaining weight during her break. “I wasn’t training a lot, and it was tough to adjust to properly fuelling without instantly wanting to burn it off,” she says.

“I think being open and honest about eating disorders in sport is the only way to get over it and help others,” says Prouse. “It’s not anyone’s fault—it is really a deep-rooted issue in track and field culture with female athletes.”

In April 2022, Prouse moved back to Ontario to surround herself with friends and family, working on her comeback with University of Guelph distance coach Terry Radchenko. “I saw the success of Madeleine Kelly and Lucia Stafford and knew Terry was going to be in my corner,” says Prouse. “From the get-go, he cared more about my mental health and physical well-being than my performance.”

“This return to racing has been nothing short of a journey, and I’m so grateful for the incredible support I’ve received from Athletics Canada and my dietitian from UNM,” says Prouse. 

Prouse aspires to represent Team Canada on the world stage in the 3,000m steeplechase, and she plans to take every opportunity she can to get there.