Pumped full of adrenaline and the desire to win, she picked herself up and carried on like a warrior.
Van ran all the way to the podium, claiming first, but when she got home something felt off in her right foot. The price of grit and determination, of pushing through pain to victory, cost her dearly this time.
“The fall and the following kilometres I ran in Mongolia are believed to have caused one or several muscles tears in the arch of my right foot,” said the 34-year-old expat, born to a French mother and a Cambodian-Chinese refugee. “I stopped running for a month, came back progressively with rehabilitation and strength training, but the pain was still there.”