- Layton's Courtney Wayment, a four-time NCAA champion at BYU, was the top American in the Paris 2024 Olympic steeplechase final. In 2026 she raced five Diamond League meets and was fifth at nationals.
- Taylor Lovell, Courtney Wayment connect back to Brigham Young University and the wider track & field picture.
- The story is backed by 16 sources and a visible last-verified date.
November 1, 2026
November 1, 2026
4 min / 863 words
16 official links
Courtney Wayment, a steeplechase runner from Layton, Utah, finished 12th in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in 9:13.60, World Athletics results show. BYU, where she won four NCAA titles, said she was the top finisher from Team USA in the final and called it BYU's highest Olympic placement in women's track and field since 2000.
"I ran the smartest race that I could have and I am very proud," she told BYU after the final.
Back home, Layton watched. KSL reported from a watch party at Layton Commons Park, where the community gathered to see the hometown runner it called "the Davis High School standout."
From Davis High to BYU
BYU prints Wayment's hometown as Layton, Utah, and her high school as Davis High School, and KSL noted that people from Kaysville, where she attended high school, came out for her too.
At BYU she piled up national titles. World Athletics lists four NCAA titles for her: the 3000m and the distance medley relay at the 2021 indoor championships, the 5000m at the 2022 indoor championships, and the 3000m steeplechase at the 2022 outdoor championships, which she won at Hayward Field on June 11, 2022, in 9:16.00. The Utah Sports Commission said that time broke the collegiate record at the time and made her the fastest American in the world in 2022. The Utah Sports Commission, honoring her in 2023, described her as an eight-time All-American and said she won more NCAA titles than any other female BYU athlete.
No BYU woman won another NCAA outdoor title until Taylor Lovell took the 2026 steeplechase; BYU's recap of that race called Lovell its first outdoor national champion since Wayment. Lovell's story is told in her profile.
Fourth, then second
Wayment's road to Paris started with a near miss. She was fourth in the steeplechase at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, BYU reported.
"That fourth place never leaves you," she said, in BYU's account of her path to Paris.
She kept moving up. She was second at the 2022 USATF Championships in 9:12.10 and third in 2023 in 9:14.63, BYU reported, and made the World Championships final both years: 12th at Oregon 2022 in 9:22.37 and 14th at Budapest 2023 in 9:25.90, World Athletics results show.
At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field she finished second in 9:06.50, her personal best, which BYU said was nearly three seconds faster than Emma Coburn's previous meet record. That earned her a place on the Olympic team.
Paris
In Paris she ran 9:10.72 in her heat and placed fourth to advance to the final, BYU reported.
"I'm here to not put a cap or a ceiling on what I am and not put up any expectations," she told BYU after the heat.
Two days later she finished 12th in the final, the best American in the race.
A professional career
Wayment has kept racing at the top level since Paris. She was sixth at the 2025 USA Championships, the Deseret News reported, and that September the paper reported a fourth-place finish in the Diamond League final in Zurich.
Her 2026 season, by World Athletics' results, took her from the indoor track at the Millrose Games in February to five Diamond League meetings: Shaoxing/Keqiao and Xiamen in China in May, Stockholm in June, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in July and Lausanne in August. She was third at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix in June in 9:23.94, and her Diamond League places ran from 11th in Lausanne to 14th in Shaoxing, with 12th in Stockholm (9:29.05) and 13th at the Prefontaine Classic (9:20.90).
Indoors she ran the 3000 meters at the Millrose Games on Feb. 1, finishing 10th in 8:52.01, and placed eighth at the BU Valentine Invitational in 8:51.57 two weeks later. In April she ran 15:22.18 for 5000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational, World Athletics records show.
At the 2026 USATF Outdoor Championships in New York in July she finished fifth in 9:19.90, her best time of the season, USATF Utah's results show, entered for Nike Swoosh TC.
World Athletics' personal-best list shows her range beyond the steeplechase: 4:09.62 for 1500 meters, 8:46.11 for 3000 meters indoors at the Millrose Games in 2024, 14:49.78 for 5000 meters indoors and 31:43.17 for 10,000 meters, run in March 2025.
The next season
As of Nov. 1, 2026, World Athletics ranked her 26th in the world in the women's steeplechase, and her best-ever world ranking is ninth.
She is one of the Utah athletes followed on the homegrown Utah athletes hub.
Key facts:
- Athlete: Courtney Wayment, 3000m steeplechase, Nike Swoosh TC; former BYU runner
- Hometown: Layton, Utah; Davis High School
- Olympics: 12th in the steeplechase final, Paris 2024 (9:13.60), the top U.S. finisher per BYU
- NCAA: four titles at BYU, including the 2022 outdoor steeplechase (9:16.00)
- Personal best: 9:06.50, second at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials
- World Championships: finalist in 2022 (12th) and 2023 (14th)
- 2026: five Diamond League starts; fifth at the USATF Outdoor Championships (9:19.90)
- Indoor best: 3000m in 8:46.11, Millrose Games, 2024
- World ranking: 26th in the women's steeplechase as of Nov. 1, 2026, per World Athletics
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