On September 15, 2025, Sarah Tait, a 24-year-old steeplechase runner from Scotland, suffered a dream debut at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, which turned into a nightmare. After an awful water jump landing, the young star, who had arrived with aspirations after breaking the Scottish record only weeks prior, collapsed. For the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, the medical staff went quickly to the scene after she was heard wailing in pain. She was later taken off in a wheelchair.
Sarah Tait suffers injury during World Championships race
Sarah Tait’s fall happened midway through her heat at Tokyo’s National Stadium. Track fan @IanTnf wrote on X,
“Sarah Tait injured on the water jump and DNF.” Another spectator inside the stadium added,
“She was screaming and sobbing. Did you see anything on the broadcast?”Eyewitnesses said she landed awkwardly on her ankle before going down. A video clip shared online showed Sarah sitting on the track while medics treated her. The dramatic scene ended her World Championships debut before she could even finish the race.
Sarah had entered Tokyo with strong momentum. In early 2023, at the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon, she won the 3000m steeplechase in 9:27.80, which also broke Eilish McColgan's Scottish record set in 2013.
As if her first senior call-up for Great Britain and Northern Ireland was not enough, she was also second at the European Team Championships in Madrid in June.
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Sarah Tait’s rise has been closely tied to her connection with fellow Scot Eilish McColgan. She became the first athlete supported by McColgan’s
“Giving Back to Track” initiative.
Before heading to Tokyo, Sarah admitted,
“Eilish is great. I message her about everything. She has told me to soak up the experience, and that’s what I’m trying my best to do.”Constant mentoring from Linda and Kirk Smith in Scotland then Sean Cleary at West Virginia University helped her career to take form.
Fans, teammates, and her mentors were shocked by the fall in Tokyo as the moment changed from what was intended to be the highlight of her early and excruciatingly exiting career.
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