Izzi Batt-Doyle’s Chicago Marathon Australian Record, After 7 Stress Fractures

October 13, 2026

Healthy Runners Get Faster · Athlete Story

"The goal is always the same: get to the start line healthy and ready."IZZI BATT-DOYLE

On Sunday in Chicago, Izzi Batt-Doyle ran 2:20:38 to finish 6th at one of the fastest marathons in the world, and broke the Australian women's marathon record.

It's the latest result in the best season of her career. It's also a long way from where she started: a runner who battled seven stress fractures before she ever pulled on an Australian singlet at the Olympics.

2:20:38 Australian marathon record

2x Olympian

1:07:17 Australian half marathon record

7 stress fractures

1A New Australian Record in Chicago

Izzi went through halfway under the pace needed for 2:21 in hot, windy conditions. The second half got tougher, but she held on to run 2:20:38, taking 46 seconds off the previous Australian record of 2:21:24, set by Jess Stenston last year.

She saw the clock in the final 150 meters and celebrated all the way to the line.

"I'm really proud I could achieve it today and I'm so happy."IZZI BATT-DOYLE, TO ATHLETICS AUSTRALIA

2Her Fastest Season Yet

Chicago wasn't a one-off. It capped a run of results that shows a runner at her best:

Half marathon Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1st in 1:07:29 The fastest half marathon ever run by an Australian woman on Australian soil.

Half marathon Sunshine Coast Half Marathon, 1st in 1:08:49 A second win, just weeks later.

Marathon Chicago Marathon, 6th in 2:20:38 A new Australian women's marathon record.

She already holds the Australian half marathon record, 1:07:17, set in Marugame, Japan in 2025. Now she holds the marathon record too.

3A Two-Time Olympian

Before she moved up to the marathon, Izzi represented Australia over 5000m at two Olympic Games: Tokyo and Paris. Making one Olympic team is hard. Making two, on a body that had already been through seven stress fractures, says a lot about how she learned to manage her training.

4Seven Stress Fractures

Before becoming one of Australia's fastest runners, Izzi battled seven stress fractures in her feet.

Bone stress injuries are some of the most frustrating setbacks a runner can have. They don't just stop you from racing. They stop you from doing the one thing that makes you better: running.

Running 101: What is a stress fracture?

Bone is living tissue. Every run puts a small load on it, and in between runs your body repairs and strengthens it. That's how bone adapts.

A stress fracture happens when the load comes faster than the bone can repair itself. Too many miles, too soon, or too little recovery, and small amounts of damage add up into a crack in the bone.

The key idea: it's not one run that causes it. It's the total load over weeks. That's why managing load, not just avoiding hard workouts, matters so much.

Like many injured runners, Izzi faced the same question again and again:

How do I maintain my fitness without continuing to overload my body?

In college, she had access to tools most runners never do:

Cross-training Aqua jogging Hours of running motion in the pool, with no impact.

Cross-training The elliptical Aerobic work without the landing forces of running.

Support Medical professionals Expert guidance through each injury.

Reduced-load running An AlterG treadmill Running while reducing the impact on healing bones.

Those tools kept her aerobic engine alive while her body recovered. But after graduation, they were no longer available. The challenge became finding a practical way to manage training load and keep running, not just during injuries, but as part of an elite program built on consistency.

5Stress Fracture 101: Types, Timelines and the Road Back

Not all stress fractures are the same. Where the fracture is matters as much as the fact that you have one, because it changes how long it takes to heal and how carefully you need to come back.

Low risk Heal well with a gradual return Sites like the inner shin (posteromedial tibia), the fibula and most metatarsal shafts in the foot. Usually managed by reducing load, then building back up step by step.

High risk Need more time and care Sites like the navicular in the midfoot, the base of the 5th metatarsal, the front of the shin and the femoral neck. Higher rates of complications, and they may need a period of protected weight-bearing first.

Izzi's seven stress fractures were all in her feet, which is a good reminder that the foot has both kinds of sites. Two runners can both have a "foot stress fracture" and face very different timelines.

Average time to return to sport, by site

Inner shin (posteromedial tibia) LOW RISK About 6 weeks

Fibula (outer lower leg) LOW RISK About 8 weeks

Femoral neck (hip) HIGH RISK About 15 weeks

Navicular (midfoot) HIGH RISK About 18 weeks

Averages from a 2023 meta-analysis of athletes (Hoenig et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine). Across most sites, full return took roughly 5 to 20 weeks. Every injury is different.

Warning signs to get checked

• Pain you can point to on one specific spot of the bone

• Pain that starts earlier in each run, or gets worse as you keep running

• Pain when hopping on that leg, or pain at rest or at night

• Swelling or tenderness over the bone

Catching it early usually means less time off. If something feels off, see a physio or sports doctor before you keep training through it.

The road back to running

1Protect and heal Running stops so the bone can repair. Cross-training like aqua jogging or cycling keeps your fitness going. High-risk sites may need a boot or crutches first.

2Get cleared to load Your clinician checks that walking is pain-free and the bone is ready. Common markers include being pain-free at rest for several days and hopping without pain.

3Reduced-load running WHERE LEVER FITS Short, easy runs with some body weight taken off, often walk-jog intervals. Return-to-run guidance in the research lists anti-gravity and body-weight-supported treadmills as an option once walking is pain-free. As your bone tolerates it, you add body weight back.

4Back to the ground A gradual walk-run progression on normal ground. Build volume before speed, roughly 5 to 10% more running each week, guided by symptoms.

5Full training, smarter Back to normal training, with reduced-load runs kept as a tool to manage big weeks, like Izzi does today.

The key point: LEVER doesn't speed up how fast a bone heals. It helps bridge the gap between no running and full running, so you can start running again at a load your bone can handle, and step back up gradually. Always follow your clinician's plan for when to start.

Train like Izzi

Keep running. Lose some of the load.

LEVER turns your treadmill into a body-weight support system, so you can recover, build volume and come back from injury while still running.

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6A Tool She Wishes She'd Had Earlier

"A tool I wish I'd had during my stress fracture days."IZZI BATT-DOYLE

Today, LEVER is one of the tools Izzi uses to manage her training load:

After races Recovering after a marathon Running again with less load while her body recovers.

Volume Adding easy aerobic miles More running without every mile at full body weight.

Big weeks Reducing impact Less stress on her body during higher mileage weeks.

"The LEVER makes it easy to reduce impact while continuing to run, whether you're returning from injury, recovering from a marathon, or simply looking to train smarter."IZZI BATT-DOYLE

7Recovery Isn't Just for Injured Runners

One of the biggest misconceptions in running is that reducing impact is only useful when you're hurt. Elite runners think differently.

Recovery isn't a break from training.
Recovery is training.

The goal isn't to avoid hard work. It's to recover well enough that tomorrow's workout can be just as productive as today's. Every day missed to soreness, fatigue or injury is a day of fitness that can't be built.

That's why many of the world's best runners are becoming more intentional about managing load. Not because they're injured, but because they want to stay healthy enough to keep improving.

83 Lessons Every Runner Can Take From Izzi

You don't need to run 100-mile weeks to benefit from training smarter. Your body only adapts when it has the chance to recover.

1. Extend your running career Many runners don't stop because they lose motivation. They stop because repeated injuries make consistent training impossible. Reducing impact on selected runs can lower the total stress on bones, tendons, muscles and joints over months of training.

2. Recover without losing fitness After a marathon or a hard workout, your body still benefits from movement. Instead of swapping running for cross-training, LEVER lets you keep running with less load while keeping your natural stride.

3. Build more aerobic volume Running economy improves through repetition, but every mile adds stress. Reducing impact makes it easier to build volume without asking your body to absorb the full load every single day.

Running a fall marathon? The same idea applies after your race. Easy runs at a reduced load let you keep moving while your body recovers, instead of choosing between total rest and running on legs that aren't ready yet.

9Consistency Is the Real Performance Advantage

Izzi's Australian record wasn't built in one race. It was built over years of making the right decision, over and over again: recovering when it mattered, reducing impact when needed, and protecting long-term health instead of chasing short-term mileage.

The fastest runners aren't always the ones who train the hardest. They're the ones who stay healthy enough to keep training.

References

1. Hoenig T, Eissele J, Strahl A, et al. Return to sport following low-risk and high-risk bone stress injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(7):427. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2022-106328

2. Warden SJ, Davis IS, Fredericson M. Management and prevention of bone stress injuries in long-distance runners. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2014;44(10):749-765. doi:10.2519/jospt.2014.5334

3. Warden SJ, Edwards WB, Willy RW. Optimal load for managing low-risk tibial and metatarsal bone stress injuries in runners: the science behind the clinical reasoning. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2021;51(7):322-330. doi:10.2519/jospt.2021.9982

Healthy runners get faster

Congratulations on the Australian record, Izzi.