Becky Breisch (born March 16, 1983) is an Americantrack and field athlete who competes in thediscus throw. She has represented the United States in the event at three consecutiveWorld Championships in Athletics from 2005 to 2009. Her personal best throw of 67.37 meters for the discus makes her the sixth best American of all-time in the event.
A two-timeUSA Outdoor champion as a professional, she also claimedNCAA titles in the discus andshot put while at theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Born inEdwardsburg, Michigan, she attendedEdwardsburg High School before going on to college at theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln.[1] While majoring in community health, she competed for theNebraska Cornhuskers women's track and field team in the shot put and discus throw. In 2002, she won discus at theBig 12 Conference in her first year and was the runner-up in the event at theNCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship later that summer. In hersophomore year at Nebraska she won both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 shot put titles, the Big 12 discus title, and then went on to claim her first outdoor NCAA title in the shot put.[2]
The 2004 season brought her further success: she won both the shot put andweight throw events at the Big 12 Indoor Championships and placed second in the shot at the NCAA Indoors. Turning to the outdoor season, she repeated as the Big 12 shot champion and won the discus at the NCAA Outdoors. She narrowly missed out on a place at the2004 Athens Olympics, as she finished fourth at that year'sUnited States Olympic Trials. An elbow injury meant that she missed the majority of thecollege athletics season in her last year at Nebraska. In her time at Nebraska she earned NCAAAll-American honours on eight occasions.[2]
She threw a personal best in the discus inLincoln, Nebraska in May 2005, launching the implement 63.53 meters (208 ft 5 in). That throw ranked her as the second best American thrower of the season behindAretha Thurmond. She won the discus at theDrake Relays and then took her first national discus title at theUSA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, earning herself a place for the world championships.[1] At the2005 World Championships in Athletics her best throw of 57.16 m in the qualifiers was not enough to progress to the final.[3]
She set a personal record throw of 67.37 m (221 ft 0 in) inMaui, Hawaii in April 2007, a mark which elevated her to second on the all-time American lists behindSuzy Powell (who had thrown 67.67 m (222 ft 0 in) in Hawaii just two days earlier).[4][5] She won the discus at theReebok Grand Prix and was runner-up at the USA Outdoor Nationals. On her second global appearance at the2007 World Championships in Athletics inOsaka she was again knocked out in the qualifying round.[1] As one of the best performers on the circuit, she was invited to the2007 IAAF World Athletics Final, where she finished in fourth place.[3]
A fourth-place finish at the 2008 Olympic Trials meant she again narrowly missed out on an opportunity to perform on the Olympic stage. At the2008 IAAF World Athletics Final, she managed only seventh position. She fared better at the2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where her throw of 62.08 m (203 ft 8 in) brought her thebronze medal and another place on the American world team. For a third consecutive time, she was knocked out in the qualifying round, taking eleventh place in the group stage of the2009 World Championships.[1][3]
Breisch claimed her second national title in the discus at the2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, defeating Olympic championStephanie Brown Trafton among others.[6] She was one of two athletes to be selected to representthe Americas at the2010 IAAF Continental Cup (the other being CubanYarelis Barrios) and she finished fifth with a best mark of 60.70 m (199 ft 2 in).[3]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing the United States | |||||
| 2004 | NACAC U-23 Championships | Sherbrooke,Canada | 1st | Discus | 53.26 m |
| 2005 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 10th (qualifying) | Discus throw | 57.16 m |
| 2007 | World Championships | Osaka, Japan | 11th (qualifying) | Discus throw | 58.42 m |
| World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 4th | Discus throw | 60.26 m | |
| 2008 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 7th | Discus throw | 53.92 m |
| 2009 | World Championships | Berlin, Germany | 11th (qualifying) | Discus throw | 58.50 m |
| 2010 | Continental Cup | Split, Croatia | 5th | Discus throw | 60.70 m |
