Hammer thrower DeAnna Price out of World Athletics Championships due to COVID-19

DeAnna Price is going to need a lot of hugs this week. The reigning world champion in the women’s hammer throw — and a self-described world-class hugger — will not defend her title due to a severe case of COVID-19.

Price, the American record holder, said she felt “weak and drained, physically and mentally,” less than a week before the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 begin Friday in Eugene.

“I tried to throw to see where I was, and I was nowhere close to where I felt like I needed to be competitive on a world stage, even in a qualifying round,” Price said on Instagram. “I’m gonna let myself be devastated for a couple days and then realign my thoughts for the long run! 2023 World Championships and 2024 Olympics.”

This is another major setback for the ebullient Price, who is known for giving bear hugs to fellow athletes before and after competition.

The 29-year-old had been alternately crying in relief and giddy with excitement on June 23 after placing fourth at the U.S. Championships. Although Price had a bye into worlds as defending champion, she was on the comeback trail following total ankle reconstruction in August and hip labrum surgery in September.

Price’s woes actually began a little more than a year ago. A week before the U.S. Olympic Trials last June, she felt a pop in her foot. Price and her husband J.C. Lambert, who is also her coach, kept the injury low-key and Price threw a personal best and new American record of 80.31 meters.

But when she returned home, Price developed a “baseball-sized swelling” on top of her foot to the point where she could no longer put on her shoe.

Price went for an MRI. “I remember telling the doctors, ‘I don’t want to know what’s wrong. Just tell me how we can deal with pain management,’” she said. “It was exactly a month before the Olympic Games and I went from 80 meters to having a hard time throwing 70.”

She still placed eighth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, throwing 73.09 meters. “Come to find out I snapped the tip of my fibula,” Price said. “I fractured my talus, tore three tendons in that ankle and then along with that, I already had a previous labrum tear, so whenever the ankle went, the hip went.”

She had the surgeries and did not start throwing hard until March. Price worked with a sports psychologist for the first time in her career and found it beneficial.

“I kept having a glimmer of hope and then I’d get hurt or have a setback,” she said. “The biggest thing is what I do best is being positive, being excited and looking at every day as a new opportunity.”

She threw 72.39 in her first meet in Kentucky in late March, but a few days later managed only 69.09 at a meet in Missouri. At her next outing in May, she threw 71.25. Going into Nashville undefeated on June 3, she placed third with a toss of 69.80.

“We were like, we have an automatic bid, so we’re just going to do what we can do. If I make it, then great, if not, it’s just not in the cards this year,” Price said, starting to tear up. “And to walk away today throwing 73.07, I’m really, really happy with that, because it’s been a really really hard journey.”

She hit another roadblock on July 1 when she woke up with vomiting, diarrhea, and a fever of 103 degrees. “What we were hoping for a 24hr stomach bug turned into DAYS of being extremely sick and sleeping by the toilet,” Price said. “It wasn’t till day 4 of my sickness that I lost my sense of smell, developed a cough, body aches and headache got worse. We took a test and discovered we got COVID.”

By this time, she was down 12 pounds and said she couldn’t heat anything other than chicken broth.

“We kept our hopes up during this times and tried to stay mentally strong,” Price said.

However, she did not want to go into the World Championships knowing she could not be competitive.

After the U.S. championships, Price had been philosophical about her place in the sport. “It is hard because people will be like, ‘World champion, two-time Olympian, 80-meter hammer thrower,’ and I have to think of myself, ‘Yes, that is me, but I am so much more than that,’” she said. “I am an international hugger. I love everything. I’m a food junkie.”

She credited her family and her physical therapist for getting her through the year. “My husband has been this fighting force,” Price said. “And he has just always been there, ‘Just don’t worry I’m here if you need me, we’re going to do this together. If you need to stop, that’s OK. We’ll revisit it later.’ And it’s been an amazing journey.”

And then it abruptly came to an end with her withdrawal from Oregon22. In 2019 in Doha, Price became the first American — male or female — to win the event at the World Championships.

“It was a tough and heart breaking decision, but I felt like it was the right decision for myself both physically and mentally,” Price said. “I have only been able to train normally and pain free for 4 weeks leading up to USA’s, so every day of training hard counted. I don’t believe I would be able to bounce back by next week after how the illness affected me mixed with the limited training I’ve had this year.”

Price went on to wish “Team USA and everyone else the best of luck.”

“Wish I would be there,” she said, “but best believe I’ll be back and ready for next year!”