Jenny Simpson Calls Time on Running After Cardiac Arrest and Rare Heart Diagnosis
Jenny Simpson, the American former 1500m world champion, has said she will not return to running after suffering a cardiac arrest in June and being diagnosed with a rare inherited heart condition.
The 39-year-old collapsed while pacing a mile group at a pop-up event in North Carolina. She required CPR and an automated external defibrillator — a device that delivers an electric shock to reset the heart's rhythm — before being taken to UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh, where she went into cardiac arrest again. She was later discharged and has now spoken publicly about what happened.
In a statement shared on social media, Simpson said she had been diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, or ARVC — a genetic condition in which the proteins that normally hold heart muscle cells together do not work properly. The diagnosis means it would be dangerous for her to return to running.
"A chapter has ended," Simpson wrote. She added that her future is hopeful, with great purpose.
Simpson's career places her among the most accomplished American middle-distance runners of her generation. She won 1500m gold at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, followed by silver medals at the 2013 and 2017 editions. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, she took bronze — the first Olympic medal for an American woman in the 1500m. She retired from competitive racing at the end of the 2024 season, closing a career that spanned more than a decade at the top.
For a runner who built a reputation on tactical intelligence and ferocious closing speed, the diagnosis arrived after she had already stepped away from elite competition. Simpson was pacing, not racing, when she collapsed — a reminder that the heart does not distinguish between a title chase and a training run.
What stands out is how directly Simpson has addressed the situation. There is no ambiguity in her words. The condition is rare, the consequences are clear, and the decision follows from the medical reality rather than from anything she might still want to achieve on the track. Her statement is measured, but it carries the weight of an athlete confronting the end of something that defined her life.
Simpson's willingness to share the diagnosis publicly also puts ARVC in front of a wider audience. Inherited heart conditions often go undetected until something goes badly wrong. Her account may prompt others to seek screening — not a claim Simpson herself makes, but a consequence of speaking openly about what happened to her.
For now, the chapter she references is the running one. What comes next, she says, is hopeful.
