Michigan Technological University announces Ella Merklein: From Sidelined to Guinness World Record Holder

From Apr 14, 2023 post. 

Guinness World Record Holder. That is probably not a title Michigan Tech cross country and track & field student-athlete Ella Merklein thought she would have just a few months following a season-ending injury early into her first collegiate outdoor track season. 

"The injury happened this time last year, it was my second race and after the steeplechase," Merklein explained. "I wasn't really able to run quite right after that without experiencing pain."

After getting an MRI, Merklein was put in a boot for a short period of time before being instructed to switch to crutches to help her from continuing to irritate her heel. 

It wasn't long after she was placed on crutches that a new journey would start for the Hartford, Wisconsin, native.

"I was walking around campus on crutches and my friends and I had decided to go on a hike prior to me breaking my foot and I didn't want to back out of the hike. We went hiking at night, me and my crutches and the rest of the gang. Then we started to make jokes about running and seeing how fast I could go on the crutches."

The jokes continued through the rest of the spring semester.

"As people started moving out, we found another pair of crutches in the general area of the dorms and one of my friends was like 'I bet I can beat you on the crutches'. So we raced down the McNair hallway, on crutches and that was the first opportunity to really go faster with crutches."

Returning home for the summer break, Merklein started to seriously consider running on crutches.

"I had just kind of been thinking like, 'what if I did start running on crutches?' I ended up joining a team workout and doing 800m repeats to see how it would work. I did three of them and it was a little difficult."

Merklein began pouring more investment into running with crutches. She began researching the best form to have while crutch running, along with seeing how fast people could run with crutches.

In her research, she had found someone with a similar type of foot injury who had the fastest mile on crutches (one leg) male, Andreas Fruhmann. who did it in Parsberg, Germany, on Jan. 2, 2021.

"And I'm like, huh, alright, somebody has already done this. I wonder if I can do it better or see what I could do in comparison."

At this time Merklein's only opportunities to cross train while recovering from her foot injury was kayaking and swimming, two options that weren't very accessible to her, nor nearly as enjoyable as her typical hobbies of hiking and running.

"So I decided to officially start working towards a world record, I looked it up, applied for it and I'm like 'I'm going to do this this summer because I need something to work towards'."

Since the injury, Merklein was worried about the unknown that would come with it. Following a few weeks of being on crutches and finding a new goal to focus on, those worries started to fade away.

"I think it was a lot of my frustration at what had happened and the fact that there wasn't much that I felt like I could do, and all of the sudden I realized, I can do this, I can change my mindset about this and it doesn't have to be something bad, it can be something good. I woke up the next morning and I felt a thousand times better once I made that decision to start working towards something new, because I had a goal, I had a purpose and I wasn't just sitting around waiting for things to happen."

So a month into summer break, Merklein began her journey to a Guinness World Record, for fastest mile on crutches (one leg) female and the next step in the process was a big one, crutch running around her neighborhood. 

"So I went out for a mile to gauge what I had because I figured after a little bit of training it'll get faster. But just to give myself a baseline, I think it was a 12:30 mile that I ran at that point."

At this time, Merklein brought her researched and calculated goal to her coaches. 

"My first reaction was, 'she wants to do what'?" assistant head coach Robert Young said as the room laughed. 

"I remember we were concerned," added head coach Kristina Owen. "But it was great, she set a goal, she did her research and trained hard for it."

Merklein used her knowledge of a running training plan to create a crutches running plan to help prepare her for this new journey of trying to break a Guinness World Record.

Upon returning to the UP in the summer, she began to consider a day to go for the Guinness World Record.

"My coaches were pretty supportive when I came back to campus and we talked about actually doing the crutches world record and at this point I wasn't sure if I was going to go for the recording." (one of the many tasks that go into verifying a Guinness World Record).

Coach Owen decided to make a track meet out of the event as assistant head coach Robert Young was aiming to break the five-minute barrier for the 22nd consecutive year around the same time.

"The fact that people were there to cheer me on and having coach Young's race go before got me into the whole race mentality, but it was a little bit nerve racking because it was about a week to a week and a half since I'd stopped using the crutches as often.

So on a July morning in Houghton, following Coach Young's successful sub-five minute mile, Merklein lined up for her record attempt.

"I finished up and my first thought was that it was really fun but really difficult. The slowest time you could have was a 12:30 mile which must have been the last record time, so I realized that I hit it and 'I'm like, oh my gosh, I did it. It's there'. And then it was just a matter of getting all the information into Guinness.

"It can be up to a 10 week wait to figure out if the documentation is accepted. I opened my emails in the morning and I'm like, I did it. Here it is."

So on the morning of Thursday, March, 23rd, It had become official that Ella Merklein was the Guinness World Record holder for fastest mile on crutches (one leg) - female.

The coaching staff was very pleased with the veteran move made by Merklein to not get discouraged by her injury but instead find a way to channel her drive and motivation into something special.

"It's finding a way to make something really awesome out of what is an otherwise challenging situation and it's something to be proud of," Young brought up.

"We have wonderfully driven student-athletes and Ella is chief amongst them," Owen mentioned. "I am very proud to get to work with a team that is full of these wonderful human beings, it's an honor."

"Honestly, it feels really great to know that I can push through any situation or any obstacle, it's like the steeplechase basically, which is the event I ended up breaking my heel in," Merklein said when being asked to reflect on her Guinness World Record. "It's a great way to continue working towards the goals even when things don't seem like they're going your way."

"I remember Coach Owen saying to me, 'sometimes the goals aren't going to be the same'."

Oddly enough, Merklein still has been reluctant to return the crutches.

"Everytime I tried returning the crutches here I would end up with some sort of injury so I just haven't returned the crutches, I haven't gone for an official run since I've been off them but I would occasionally mess with them."

When asked if she would ever look to defend her record she was unsure of her answer.

"I want to focus solely on running and being a student-athlete, but I think it would be cool if one of my teammates happens to get injured and shoots for it, I think it would be cool to help them with that."

Merklein and the rest of the Huskies will resume the outdoor track & field campaign next weekend heading to La Crosse, Wisconsin, for the Phil Esten Challenge, a two day meet hosted by UW La Crosse on Friday & Saturday.

Original source can be found here.