Canadian Olympian Julie-Anne Staehli is back at Queen’s University, where she spent five years competing for the school’s cross-country and track programs between 2012 and 2017. This time, she’s working as an athlete service co-ordinator, helping to ensure Queen’s student-athletes have the best collegiate experience possible.
The job is a significant shift from her previous one as a professional athlete with New Balance Boston, but Staehli sees it as a fresh start. The Lucknow, Ont., native spent the last three years training with U.S. coach Mark Coogan and Team New Balance Boston at the brand’s headquarters in Brighton, Mass.
“I loved Boston, but I knew I wanted something else to stimulate my mind,” says Staehli. “I got to a point where I wanted to take my next step, and that step led me back to Kingston.”
Under Coogan’s guidance, Staehli made multiple Canadian teams in the women’s 5,000m event and won national titles in cross country and on the roads. She was on her way to securing a spot on her second Canadian Olympic team when she ran 15:07 for 5,000m (indoors) in February 2024. Weeks later, she suffered a stress fracture in her foot’s navicular bone and suddenly, everything was up in the air.
“It broke my heart,” Staehli says. “Everything was on track to get to Paris, and everything flipped upside down.”
But Staehli wasn’t ready to let go of her Olympic dream. “It left me in a vulnerable spot,” she says. “It was everything I worked for, but beyond my control.”
Staehli fought her way back through rehab for a last-chance run at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal in June. Two days before her race, she put on track spikes for the first time since her injury. “It was the first time I’ve gone into a race feeling unprepared, but I would’ve regretted not giving myself a shot,” says Staehli. “I wanted to do it.”
The risks were high, but a win could have secured her a spot on the Olympic team via World Athletics points. Her doctor warned her that if she re-fractured her navicular bone, she would need surgery, which could seriously affect her running career. Staehli wound up 10th, in 15:50.08, missing her goal by a wide margin.
The 31-year-old says it took her a while to come to terms with not competing for Canada in Paris. “Seeing everything unfold and knowing I wasn’t there… It ate me up,” she says.
Staehli says she looks back on missing the Olympic team as part of letting go and moving on as a professional athlete. “The Boston experience was incredible,” she says. “There were just so many other aspects I wanted to bring into my life.”
Though she has left her Boston team, Staehli remains supported by New Balance Canada as she searches for her next objective in the sport. “I still have goals I want to accomplish, but I’m at a point where running isn’t my singular focus,” Staehli says. “The marathon has crossed my mind, and some part of me wants to try an 800m. Both are boxes I’ve wanted to check.”
Staehli says she’s looking forward to putting the high-competitive environment aside and finding a place in the Kingston running community as she adjusts to a 40-hour work week, helping student-athletes once in her position at Queen’s University.
