US runner Emily Infeld was stalked by stalkers for three years

When the long distance competitions at the Tokyo Olympics open, Emily Infeld will be absent. The American is one of the best runners in her country, she won the bronze medal over 10,000 meters at the 2015 World Championships, and she was also there at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. However, she could not qualify for Tokyo – also because she was followed by a stalker in recent years.

The US sports broadcaster ESPN has worked on the story of Emily Infeld in detail. For three years, the 32-year-old lived in fear of her stalker Craig Donnelly, had to flee from him and hide, and could not train properly. Infeld could hardly concentrate on her sporting career, her mileage dropped sharply.

Runner Emily Infeld got intrusive messages from Stalker

Emily Infeld’s nightmare began in 2018, ESPN reports. It was then that Craig Donnelly first stepped into the life of the runner, a hitherto unknown man who wrote her strange messages on her social media channels. First, he sent her advice on how best to cure an injury. But over time the news got more and more personal and intrusive, Donnelly talked about the wedding and made concrete plans for the ceremony. Infeld was already dating her fiancé Maxwell at the time.

“I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach,” recalls the runner. At first she still believed that the stalker would not be able to find out her address – until she got mail from him. As a result, she and her partner took protective measures: They installed surveillance cameras on their house, there was always a baseball bat in the trunk of their car, and an iron rod next to the front door. After a court had ruled that Donnely was not allowed to approach Infeld, there was radio silence for a year and a half.

Was the sponsor applying pressure?

But then the stalker got back on Twitter and Instagram, claiming in public posts that he and Infeld were married and that the athlete owed him money. “I really thought it was done,” Infeld told ESPN. The next shock came in June 2020: Donnelly had rented an apartment in Portland, only about two miles from her apartment. Worse, he posted on LinkedIn that he’d only moved to Portland to kill Emily Infeld. Infeld only had to flee, first to a hotel, then to Atlanta – away from her home and also from her training center, where she had been preparing for the Olympic Games for years.

Despite their plight, the sporting goods manufacturer Nike, which operates the training center, put pressure on them, Infeld claims. She should return and meet certain athletic requirements, otherwise her financial support would be canceled. There was also little support from the police. Since Donnelly had left the state, the police in Oregon had little control, the authorities told ESPN.

Infeld felt left alone – and finally decided in March of this year to make her story public. She feels “frustrated and hopeless,” she wrote on Instagram: “I don’t know what to do and I want to share that for everyone who struggles and has struggled with something similar.” She then received countless messages from women with similar stories to tell. Runners in particular are affected by harassment of all kinds: They often have to cover long distances alone during training, on which they are unprotected. Emily Infeld hardly had the courage to do such training runs, which was noticeable in her athletic performance.

Stalker finally caught – he faces a long prison sentence

It wasn’t until June 2021 that Craig Donnelly was finally arrested. In a way, his story is also tragic: Donnelly was a runner herself, but suffered an epileptic seizure in 2016. According to ESPN, part of his brain had to be removed in an emergency operation at the time. After that, his personality changed and he began to imitate Infeld. Apparently the runner wasn’t the only woman Donnelly had stalked. Now Donnelly faces a prison sentence of up to ten years for cyberstalking.

For Emily Infeld, the nightmare is over – nevertheless, the runner has virtually lost three years of her life. After Donnelly’s arrest, there was still a theoretical chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games, but Infeld clearly missed the required time. But the psychological consequences are even worse: Infeld still doesn’t feel safe, she told ESPN. She avoids posting private information on the internet, the surveillance system on her house is still active. Your primary goal now is to finally find your way back to normal.