Erin Teschuk

Erin Teschuk (born 25 October 1994) is a Canadian middle- and long-distance runner. She represented her country at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, and the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Collegiately, she competed for the North Dakota State Bison where she was a 15-time Summit League champion and 7-time All-American.

Early and personal life Teschuk grew up in Winnipeg and attended St. Mary's Academy from 2008 to 2012. Running for St. Mary's, she won three provincial cross country titles and won ten medals at the Manitoba High School Championships over the course of four years. She was also a multiple time medalist at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships.

Teschuk graduated from North Dakota State University with a BSc in 2016. She is currently enrolled as a graduate student at York University studying Psychology.

In August 2023, she was engaged to her longtime partner Charlie Grimshaw during a hike in Koppl, Austria.

Collegiate career

2012–13 After redshirting her freshman cross-country season, Teschuk made her debut for NDSU running 3:06.76 over 1000 metres on 7 December 2012. She would go on to set indoor seasons bests of 2:13.86 in the 800 metres and 4:59.03 for the mile as well as anchoring the Bison to a Summit League DMR title.

Outdoors, she managed to run a personal best of 4:33.61 in the 1500 metres and finished runner-up at the Summit League Championships. Later that summer, she would make her debut in a new event, the 2000 metres steeplechase, where she would represent Manitoba at the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Quebec where she finished second to Geneviève Lalonde in a time of 6:45.40.

Having met the Olympic Standard of 9:45.00 at the 2015 World Championships, Teschuk qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Just as in Beijing one year prior, she failed to qualify the finals, placing 16th in her heat.

In 2017, Teschuk ran a seasons best of 9:43.34 on 16 June in Portland. At the Canadian Championships in Ottawa later that year, she placed 4th, failing to qualify for the World Championships in London.

On 20 January 2018, Teschuk ran a 3000 m personal best of 9:01.30 in Nashville. She would run her steeplechase seasons best of 9:57.25 on 28 July 2018 in Ninove, Belgium.

2019–present In 2019, Teschuk joined VicCity Elite, a middle-distance training group based out of Victoria, British Columbia.

Teschuk finished just three races in 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic, but was able to run a 3000 metres personal best of 8:59.28 on 14 February at the Boston University Valentine Invitational.

On 8 May 2021, Teschuk ran her first steeplechase race in almost two years running a time of 10:16.80 at Griswold Stadium in Portland. 20 days later, once again at Griswold Stadium, she would improve upon her time by 20 seconds running a seasons best of 9:58.46, her first sub-10 minute clocking in almost 3 years.

2022 marked a shift in focus to the 1500 metres for Teschuk. On 20 May, she would run a 4:11.21 personal best at Icahn Stadium in New York City and finished 11th at the Canadian Championships in June. Later that summer, she would make her first national team appearance since the 2016 Olympics at the NACAC Championships where she would finish 5th over 1500 metres in 4:12.76.

Teschuk opened her 2023 indoor season with a mile personal best of 4:31.21, placing 5th at the Dr. Sander Invitational in New York City,

On 10 February 2023, Teschuk ran a time of 8:46.46 over the indoors 3000 metres in Boston, placing her 3rd on the all-time Canadian list. One week later, she competed in the Mixed Relay at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia. She competed alongside Canadian teammates Kate Current, Matthew Beaudet, and Perry Mackinnon. The foursome finished 8th out of 15 teams in a time of 24:55.

Outdoors, Teschuk ran a 5000 metres personal best of 15:37.43 at Mt. SAC and took first place at the Music City Track Carnival in the same event. On 27 July, she placed 7th over 5000 metres at the Canadian Championships.

Teschuk was selected for her first World Championship team in 8 years, being selected to compete in the 5000 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The selection was a "big surprise" to Teschuk herself who didn't believe she would make the team. In Budapest, Teschuk placed 18th in her heat, running a time of 15:56.54.

Competition record

Personal bests Outdoor 3000 metres steeplechase – 9:40.07 (Beijing 2015) 1500 metres - 4:11.21 (New York, NY 2022) One Mile - 4:36.20 (Vancouver 2019) 5000 metres - 15:37.43 (Walnut, CA 2023) Indoor 1500 metres – 4:13.51 (New York, NY 2023) One mile – 4:31.21 (New York, NY 2023) 3000 metres – 8:46.46 (Boston, MA 2023) 5000 metres – 16:01.69 (Bloomington, IN 2015)