Hoka Runner Adelle Tracey on Overcoming a Difficult Injury, Getting Back on the Track and Fulfilling Her Childhood Dream
Running is hereditary for British-Jamaican athlete Adelle Tracey.
Her father, Nicholas, was a 400-meter runner for Jamaica and she always thought she would be following in his steps.
The younger Tracey, who is sponsored by Hoka, now primarily competes in 800m races, but she’s been running ever since she could remember. After being born in Seattle, her family moved to the Parish of Manchester in Jamaica, where she spent her childhood.
“The culture of running in Jamaica is a massive deal, so everybody runs. It’s been ingrained in me from a young age, and when I moved to the U.K., I always felt like it was already part of my identity to be a runner and I was really strong at it,” she said while sitting on a director’s chair in the Hoka store in London’s Covent Garden.
At school, Tracey joined the club system for gifted young athletes. Sports days were her favorite at school as it was an opportunity to show her strength.
“I wasn’t very academic and a lot of the reasons why I run are because I am neurodiverse, being dyslexic and dyscalculia. I gained a lot of confidence from being in sport as a child and I could bring that back to the classroom and tackle the challenges there with a lot more confidence,” she said, adding that she encourages anyone who is neurodiverse to lean into their strengths because it “gives so much power.”
Tracey made her first team for Great Britain at the age of 16, and at 19 she was chosen by Dame Kelly Holmes to be one of the torchbearers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Being recognized by Holmes was a motivating factor for her to want to become an Olympian. The moment remains sentimental to her. “I’ve only watched it back a handful of times, because I want it to remain really special,” said the now-31-year-old.
This summer, Tracey made it to the 2024 Summer Olympics, but represented Jamaica instead of Great Britain.
She went through a change of allegiance process that involved not competing for Great Britain for three years, which coincidentally happened at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve now fulfilled my childhood dream of being able to compete for the country that I grew up in. I’ve loved my experience as a G.B. athlete as well, and it’s been a privilege to be able to compete for both sides of your heritage,” said Tracey, whose mother is British.
The Jamaican team also has a rich legacy when it comes to the Olympics — Usain Bolt was the first athlete to hold the 100m and 200m world record; Elaine Thompson had a time of 10.71 seconds at the Rio Olympics in 2016; and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the first Jamaican woman to win a gold medal for a 100m race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Tracey was close to her own Olympic dreams in Paris this summer, until her plans took a left turn.
She didn’t make the repechage round in the 800m or 1500m races because she suffered from an injury that tore the arch of her foot in May that didn’t show up in an MRI scan until a second scan the day after the Olympics.
She soldered on and cross trained every day but had to refocus her priorities. “Being there, I just had to take it all in and be thankful for being there and making the start line,” she said.
In the meantime, she’s spent a lot of time with friends and family. It’s taken her two months to be able to return to the gym and she’s started running again.
Her training regime is a rigorous one. Tracey spends three months a year running at high altitude.
She in Kenya in January, followed by South Africa in the spring and the south of France in the summer.
Kenya is one of her favorite places to run. “It reminds me of where I grew up in Jamaica and there’s something peaceful and simple about the way of living there. And as a woman, you feel empowered to run because you feel perfectly safe,” she explained.
As a Hoka athlete, she also spends time training in Flagstaff, Ariz., where the athletic brand has an elite running group.
She credits the brand for celebrating athletes as individuals rather than treating them as robots.
And the running trails in Arizona aren’t half bad either. “It’s a lot of dirt trails and beautiful pine forests. I run for miles and miles, and the surface is incredible because of the high elevation. There are also some cool spots in Sedona, where there are red rocks,” said Tracey.
Her training is leading up to the 2025 World Athletics Championships that will take place in September in Tokyo, Japan.
“I’m excited to start afresh and my body’s healthy again. I think the year before was a really great year for me, so I’m ready to build on that,” she said.