Runners in brightly coloured tops running up a road lined by trees as part of a Marathon event

Freddie Clemo

What would you do if you broke your leg whilst running a marathon? It seems like an obvious answer – the pain would be excruciating and most of us wouldn’t have the mental strength to continue. 

Team GB’s Rose Harvey defied all odds when she finished the Paris Olympic marathon in under three hours despite breaking her leg during the process. The athlete told the BBC that it was “really, pretty painful” from about two miles in, but she still crossed the line in the impressively quick time. 

She had struggled with tightness for a few weeks leading up to the marathon, and doctors and physios told her the marathon would worsen it. She finished the race with a stress fracture of her femur. 

Why did she have to run?

You wouldn’t be crazy for wondering why Harvey didn’t just pull out of the race. Usually, Team GB would have a reserve ready to take the place of an injured athlete. 

But team GB’s reserve, Clara Evans, had already stepped up to take the place of Charlotte Purdue, who had to pull out after rolling her ankle on her last long run. Evans got the call a week before the race, and pulled out all the stops to finish as the first Brit in 2:33:01. 

Because of Purdue’s injury, there was no reserve to take Harvey’s place in the marathon. She decided to attempt it despite her niggling injury, and told the BBC she even felt quite positive on the start line. 

Six miles in she began to fall behind, and she ran the majority of the race on her own. 

“The Olympic energy was kind of what kept me going to that finish line,” she said. 

“Any other race I would have stopped, because I wasn’t able to run like I normally can…and the pain was really bad, but I just had to get to that finish line, I had to do the Olympic marathon.”

“It was really tough”, Harvey told the BBC – likely the understatement of the century. 

The brutal course

Anyone who watched the Paris Olympic Marathon course likely gasped in horror as the athletes were subjected to a steep uphill climb for what seemed like miles. 

The course this year was considered the hardest in the history of the games, called a ‘torture test’ by the New York Times. At mile 18 the athletes were subjected to a hill that has a 13.5 percent incline. This gruelling ordeal was followed by a steep downhill that put more strain on the athletes’ legs. 

Runner’s World reported that the route included 436m of elevation gain, and a perhaps equally challenging 438m of descent. Boston, generally considered one of the hilliest major marathons, has a measly 244m of elevation gain in comparison.

Eleven athletes did not finish, including GB’s Calli Hauger-Thackery, who said on Instagram she was mentally exhausted after finding out about her mum’s cancer diagnosis. She hit mile 17 and began running sideways until she was caught by her husband at the medical team. 

Despite the hills and the 24C heat, Sifan Hassan took the win with an Olympic record breaking time of 2:22:55.

Defying the odds

Fans of Harvey will know that this is not the first time she has gone out on a limb (sometimes literally) and ran superbly despite nursing an injury. In 2022 Harvey was hit by a car during one of her final training runs before the London marathon. Her knee was so swollen she struggled to bend it. 

She told Runner’s World she couldn’t believe it: “I was feeling really confident. I was going into London feeling great. And then this.”

She struggled to run, only managing a hobble, and didn’t run more than three miles per day. She was so devastated she kept her unlucky injury a secret. 

Harvey’s unwavering determination pulled her to the start line, against all odds. 

“I’ve just got to start this race and give it a go for all the people who’ve been with me on this marathon running rollercoaster ride”, she said.

She certainly gave it a go – Harvey was the first British woman across the finish line, in an outstanding 2:27:58. 

From the office to the Olympics

Harvey shot to prominence when she achieved her incredible PB of 2:23:21 at the 2023 Chicago marathon, putting her fifth on the British all-time list. 

Harvey only started running at age 21. She told Runner’s World she was ‘horribly unfit’ after years of partying at university. Running started as a hobby to meet people, and she also began running to and from work to avoid the tubes. 

Harvey was suddenly made redundant during lockdown from her demanding corporate job as a lawyer, and took the opportunity to take her running seriously. 

She went professional in 2022, achieving her impressive London marathon result despite her injury. She went from strength to strength, eventually qualifying for the Olympics.

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Featured image courtesy of Mārtiņš Zemlickis on Unsplash. No changes made to this image. Image licence found here. 

First-Class English Literature grad from Edinburgh University, currently completing my NCTJ at News Associates and living in Sussex.

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