MAINE, USA — Kate Hall-Harnden, a track and field athlete from Casco, has torn her ACL and will not be able to compete for a spot in the 2020ne Tokyo Olympics.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Hall wrote that the injury happened last week while she was training at the gym and landed on a hyperextended left knee.
"One week before I was going to compete in my first competition in a year, I was at the gym and tipped a 30-inch box over by landing on the back edge of it. Trying to catch my fall, I hyperextended my left knee. Initially, I was confident it was just sore from the hyperextension, but after an MRI on Tuesday, I found out that I completely tore my ACL."
Recovery time from ACL surgery will prohibit Hall-Harnden from reaching her dreams of making the Games, something she said she was looking forward to.
"Although I accomplished my goal of being at the 2016 Olympic Trials, my heart is broken that I won’t have a chance to make the Olympics this year; something I know I would have done if I was healthy," she wrote.
In 2018, Hall joined the Monks' Cross Country and Track and Field program as an assistant coach at Saint Joseph's College. Back then, she told NEWS CENTER that the opportunity would help her grow as a professional, while also giving her the flexibility to train hard in the hopes of making the 2020 Olympics.
"I like staying busy," Hall told us. "It's going to be awesome having some training every day, and also coaching a bit, too. I think it will be a good balance of each."
