'Just race hard': Steeplechase runner Regan Yee looks to be more assertive in Diamond League opener

When Regan Yee opened her steeplechase season on the Diamond League circuit last June 2, she was out of contention shortly after the start gun sounded in the women's 3,000-metre race in Florence, Italy.

Her coach, Stephen Haas, suggested she run conservatively not knowing what would develop. He also told Yee not to join the front pack that was running at a nine-minute pace.

"Pretty much everybody except me and a Ukrainian athlete [Nataliya Strebkova] went at that pace so I wasn't in the race at all," Yee recalled in a phone interview with CBC Sports.

The South Hazelton, B.C., athlete finished 13th in a field of 14 in nine minutes 40.04 seconds, well off her 9:24.82 personal best and nearly 40 seconds behind Ethiopian Sembo Almayew's winning time of 9:00.71.

Haas, a Big 10 Conference champion over 5,000 metres at the NCAA level before he turned professional, said Yee "was a little over her head" in Florence and told CBC Sports they have changed how the 28-year-old will approach Diamond League races.

Expect the reigning Canadian champion to be more assertive in her first steeplechase of the year at the Diamond League season opener on Saturday at 8:05 a.m. ET in Xiamen, China. Watch live stream coverage of the first of 15 Diamond League meets beginning at 7 a.m. on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Yee feels much more prepared entering Saturday's race, having worked on her hurdling technique in recent weeks, something she didn't do before the Florence race. The second-year pro is also coming off an indoor season in which she ran four PBs across flat distances in the 1,500, mile, 3,000 and 5,000.

"I'm probably in the best place fitness-wise that I've [ever] been at this time of year," said Yee, who lists another