Edward Trippas

After a year of injury in 2020 Ed Trippas questioned why he did the sport, but six months on he is now the third best in Australian history in the steeplechase and is heading to the Tokyo Olympics.

“I started running because at my local public school I had some success in Cross Country and so my parents helped get me involved in Little Athletics from when I was around eight-years-old. At the time I was ok but not amazing and really enjoyed it because of the social aspect of the sport,” Trippas recalled.

He started running steeplechase at 15 and at two years later ran a time of 5:55 (2000m steeple) and a brilliant 9:04 for the 3000m steeplechase a few months later. Both performances earned him national medals. In 2017 he made his international debut in the junior event at the World Cross Country Championships. Later that year he commenced Economics degree at Princeton University and is due to graduate in mid-2022.

In his first summer at Princeton he made a slight improvement to 9:00 minutes, but in 2019 in his second summer he ran three consecutive PBs including a 17 second drop to a stunning 8:33.90.

In 2020 he was running well indoors until COVID hit. But he was also in a challenging period of his career.

“From August 2019 to December 2020 was the hardest time in the sport I’ve had because of injuries which hindered running and made me question my intentions in the sport,” said Trippas, “When you jog for months in pain and can’t figure how to get better, it is mentally and physically draining and takes all enjoyment away.”

He travelled back to Australia in late 2020, four months before the Australian Championships/Olympic trials.

“When I got out of hotel quarantine in mid-December 2020 having had a very rough seven months of running less than half what I would normally do, barely faster than a jog, I was very out of shape and essentially started from scratch at that point. To be able to get from there to an Olympic qualifier in six months rewards the hard work I put in and validates the love I have for running.”

After running a couple of 3:50 1500s in late February his first steeple in March was a modest 9:01. But three weeks later signs were good with him progressing to 8:36, then a PB 8:31 and bronze in the national championships. Back in America, having ‘redshirt’ his college season, he dropped to 8:26.25 in late May in Oregon. Then in June it was off to Europe to race and after a modest start in Nice, on the very last day of qualification for the Tokyo Olympics he smashed out 8:19.60, easily an Olympic qualifier and the third fastest in Australian history. In Tokyo he placed 11th in his heat clocking 8:29.90 in the stifling conditions.

His 2022 campaign, largely with his college team at Princeton, yield only an 8:30 steeplechase. But he lifted in the NCAA final to place fifth in a very quick race clocking 8:20.29 to secure the standards and ultimately selection in the 3000m steeplechase for the world championships and Commonwealth Games.

At Hayward Field in Eugene, where a month earlier he had run at the NCAAs, Ed placed 6th in his heat at the World Championships in a terrific time of 8:23.83. It was the second fastest ever time by an Aussie at the Worlds. He missed proceeding to the final by three seconds. Three weeks later her was 7th at the Commonwealth Games.

In his last year in college at Princeton, Ed was 9th in the NCAA steeplechase, hitting a season's best of 8:24 in July in Europe. Back in Australian in 2024 and now living in Melbourne, he claimed two steeplechase win on the domestic circuit and a significant 7:48 3000m PB in the National title.