‘Just race hard’: Steeplechase runner Regan Yee looks to be more assertive in Diamond League opener [Video]

When Regan Yee opened her steeplechase season on the Diamond League circuit last June 2, she was out of contention shortly after the start gun sounded in the women’s 3,000-metre race in Florence, Italy.

Her coach, Stephen Haas, suggested she run conservatively not knowing what would develop. He also told Yee not to join the front pack that was running at a nine-minute pace.

“Pretty much everybody except me and a Ukrainian athlete [Nataliya Strebkova] went at that pace so I wasn’t in the race at all,” Yee recalled in a phone interview with CBC Sports.

The South Hazelton, B.C., athlete finished 13th in a field of 14 in nine minutes 40.04 seconds, well off her 9:24.82 personal best and nearly 40 seconds behind Ethiopian Sembo Almayew’s winning time of 9:00.71.

Haas, a Big 10 Conference champion over 5,000 metres at the NCAA level before he turned professional, said Yee …