If you're kind of 'meh' when it comes to track and field, then the steeplechase is certainly your best shot at getting into it. The steeplechase is just like running, but has a water trap. Delights.The steeplechase originated in England, where people would race horses from town to town—using steeples as their guides—and invariably would come across obstacles like streams or rivers. At one point, people subtracted the horse, added a track, and decided to try and fuck runners up by laying down a water pit at the end of a hurdle. It's very exciting.Fine. If that doesn't get you, then surely you can be impressed by this: 18-year-old Kenyan runner Celliphine Chepteek Chespol just edged up on the world record for steeplechase in the women's 3,000 at the Joan Benoit Samuelson Night of the Pre Classic last night—all after losing her shoe in the water trap, taking time to put her heel back in, and then smoking her competition in a final dead sprint. It was good enough to make the second best time ever in women's 3,000 meter—despite the shoe loss.Just take a look:
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Chespol was actually up against the world record holder Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, and made a bold long stride before the hurdle, only to realize that her shoe had come off in the water trap. She took about three seconds to adjust the shoe, and still managed to gun down Jebet and a fellow Kenyan for the second fastest time ever at 8:58.78.Granted, Jebet's time is exactly six seconds faster than Chespol's second-best time. But can Jebet say that she did it after losing her shoe? Hell nah.