Abby Steiner Earns Two Athlete of the Week Awards
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky track & field star sprinter Abby Steiner has been named National Women’s Athlete of the Week by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and Women’s Runner of the Week by the Southeastern Conference.
Steiner earned these through breaking the 200m collegiate record and two more school records at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina.
Most notably, Steiner won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.37 seconds, setting a new collegiate record after she tied the previous collegiate record of 22.38 in her 2021 NCAA Indoor Championship 200m title race.
Her new collegiate record improved her place as the second fastest American ever in the indoor 200m, and fifth fastest in world history indoors.
Steiner also tied the 60m school record Dezerea Bryant set in 2014, with the top time of the 60m semifinals (7.12). It was also the fastest women’s 60m time of the day, including prelims, semifinals and finals.
Another notable performance from Steiner was her participation in the winning 4x400m relay as the second leg, running a split under 51 seconds. The relay run of 3:27.27 was a new school record, the current world-leading time in the event for 2022 and the fourth fastest time in collegiate history.
The senior sprinter was previously named USTFCCCA Women’s Athlete of the Week in December after she broke the 300m collegiate record with a 35.80 run in Louisville.
This is also the second time Steiner has been named SEC Women’s Runner of the Week this season. She earned the award in January after running in the previous 4x400m school record/then-world-leading relay at Texas Tech and finishing second in the 60m with what was then her personal best (7.17/7.19a). She won that award twice in the 2021 indoor season as well.
The All-American is on The Bowerman Watch List for the second year in a row, awarded by the USTFCCCA.
She will look to defend her 200m SEC title for the third year in a row at SEC Indoor Championships from February 25-26 in College Station, Texas.
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