This past year Taryn O’Neill of Lake Country British Columbia has been on a tear setting meet, club and national records. During this time she’s recorded new personal bests of 4:17 in the 1500m (64.9 VDOT), 9:15 in the 3000m (64.3 VDOT) and 9:54 in the 2-Mile (64.9 VDOT). Taryn works with Olympian and VDOT Coach Malindi Elmore. She was recently interviewed on Athletics Illustrated and talked about her appreciation for Malindi:

Margot Kelly/LLC

CK: How would you describe Malindi Elmore’s influence on your development as an athlete?

TO: Indescribable. All of my major success has happened under Malindi, but so have my major setbacks. We have built a very unique team and been through hell together in the sense of injury and illness. I am so fortunate to have her experience backing me through some of my most vulnerable years as a runner. She was the real root of my breakthrough last year, after beating into me just how important consistency is. She always knows when to hold me back and force recovery that I may not think I need.

“I have been really fortunate to coach Taryn for the last 4-years through our local club Okanagan Athletics,” said Malindi.  “She has shown huge resiliency and overcome some major setbacks to become one of the best runners in the world at her age. She is a total “go-getter” and loves to have fun exploring the world through running, cycling, biking, and skiing and is a great example of a balanced athlete who loves what she does and gets top results doing so.  She is off to Villanova in the fall and I can’t wait to see what she does at the NCAA level and beyond.”

It’s always great to see true development of a young athlete in how they mature and respect the process, not just improve their times. Congratulations to Malindi and Taryn on forging an incredible partnership.