Close Finish in 800m
Canada’s Gary Reed has been highly competitive on the world scene over the past 4 years. He was the 2007 World Championship silver medalist in Osaka and already this year has run under 1:44 for 800 meters. He holds the Canadian 800 record at 1:43.68. With all this success it is interested to hear that Reed did not start out as an 800 meter specialist, but actually as a decathlete. Here’s a little more from Gary about how he started his track and field career….
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Dylan Armstrong
Shot putter Dylan Armstrong and 800 meter runner Gary Reed form an uncommon duo on the track circuit. These two Canadians have been friends for years and share many memories from there travels over time.
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Gary Reed
By Paul Gains, special to CBC Sports
As the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin rapidly approach, Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep is showing the form that led her to a bronze medal performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
That 100-metre hurdles medal was Canada’s sole podium finish at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium in Beijing, and if she is feeling the pressure to repeat in Berlin from Aug. 15-23, Lopes-Schliep is handling it well.
“It is always in the back of your mind, being the only Olympic medallist for Canada,” she allows. “But I take the pressure and kind of feed off it.
“In the hurdles, you never know who is going to do what on what day. So you have to go out there and give it your all and attack every hurdle like it’s the last race you will ever have.”
On Tuesday, July 28, the 26-year-old native of Whitby, Ont., finished second in her specialty at Monaco’s Herculis Super Grand Prix Meet in a time of 12.54 seconds, just 0.02 off her season best, which she set in winning the Qatar Super Grand Prix meet in Doha. The field was stacked and possibly stronger than the one that will line up for the Berlin final, where preliminary rounds will likely eliminate some contenders.
Sally McLellan, the Olympic silver medallist from Australia, and one of Lopes-Schliep’s closest friends, won the race in 12.50, while the 2008 IAAF world indoor champion, Lolo Jones of the United States, finished third. Jones, who has the fastest time in the world this year at 12.47 seconds, fell at the U.S. championships and did not make the American team for the worlds.
The reigning Olympic champion, Dawn Harper of the United States, managed only sixth.
“It looked like a world athletics final, with all the girls in the race,” Lopes-Schliep said afterward, referring to the IAAF invitational meet that traditionally concludes the season. “You never know what is going to happen. I told Sally, ‘You gave me a real good run for my money and finished strong, and way to go.’
“Lolo and I hit hands in the middle of the race. We are all pushing and cheering for each other. I mean we are all going out there to attack and to win, but everybody supports one another. Everybody has had their ups and downs. We will see how the worlds go and then the world athletics final.”
Once again there is no clear-cut favourite in the women’s hurdles, throwing the medal possibilities wide open.
Tensions with Felicien
Perhaps the only notable athlete missing from the Monaco field was Canadian champion Perdita Felicien. The tension between the two Canadians is palpable. They are two very different personalities. While Felicien can appear aloof, Lopes-Schliep is outgoing and friendly. For instance, following her interviews with journalists at the Canadian championships in Toronto, where Felicien edged her out for the title, she joked with the reporters, “I hope you are all wearing your sun screen, guys.”
Losing to the 2003 IAAF world champion was a bitter result for Lopes-Schliep to handle as she had beaten Felicien four times straight prior to the national championships. When the pair returned to Europe, Lopes-Schliep beat Felicien in the next two races. Felicien finished ahead of her in London on July 24.
At the time of nationals, Lopes-Schliep admitted her hurdling technique was at fault. “Too much air” over the hurdles, as she put it. But there was another factor she now reveals.
“I came back from being in Europe before nationals and felt very tight,” she explains. “I knew something wasn’t quite right. I know my body and I knew I needed help. I have been working with Dr. Larry Bell. I am excited to work with him. He’s a man of knowledge. He has really helped me with this.”
Bell is an Orillia, Ont.-based chiropractor who has worked extensively with the Nigerian track and field team as well as individual sprinters including 2004 Olympic 100 m silver medallist Francis Obikwelu of Portugal. Lopes-Schliep has made the 90-minute drive to Bell’s clinic a few times for treatment and reports all is now good.
Good health is something Lopes-Schliep doesn’t take for granted. She was born with a genetic condition called lipodystrophy that accounts for her large musculature. All the women on her mother’s side of the family have it. Diabetes also runs in the family. She has to take special care of her body.
Regular massage therapy is a must for world-class athletes, and most meets provide this. Lopes-Schliep said there was a two-hour wait for massage in Monaco, however, so she resorted to her own substitute — an ice bath.
“I will do it right here in my hotel room,” she says, laughing. “You fill up the bathtub with cold water and ice and sit back and enjoy. The first two minutes are the hardest. Once you get past that you’re good to go. If I haven’t done it in a while it kind of gets you. But I have been doing it regularly now.”
Next up for the Olympic bronze medallist is Stockholm’s DN Galan on Friday. A year ago meet organizers put her in the B section. She ran faster than the all the athletes in the A section — from Lane 1, no less. This time, her credentials will no doubt earn her a better lane assignment. Then she will meet up with the Canadian team at a training camp outside Cologne, Germany. Her coach Anthony McCleary will join her and work with her on perfecting her technique heading into Berlin.
“I still feel I need to fix some things, because at the end of the race in Monaco I felt I had more gas in the tank,” she says. “So definitely, I am excited about the worlds and to see what is going to happen. I thought I had a very good start tonight. I have got to work on the middle part of the race and the transition and see what happens.”
 June 26, 2009
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(C) Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall
Gary Reed is one of the fastest 800m runners in the world. Currently he possesses a personal best of 1:43.68, which happens to be the Canadian record and a time that is considered fast by anyone’s measure. He also owns a 4th place performance he achieved at the 2008 Olympics from Beijing, China and a silver medal from the 2007 IAAF World Track and Field Championships that took place in Osaka, Japan. The world record by his hero Danish (by way of Kenya) runner, Wilson Kipketer still stands at 1:41.11 from August 24th 1997.
I remember watching Reed racing in the Worlds; I was emotionally moved to a standing position to the front of the television. I found myself yelling at the TV, cheering for Gary to hang on. It was an exciting moment in Canadian track and field lore. His efforts resulted in a silver medal at an event, which is on par with any other international track and field race, including the Olympics. He was just nipped at the line by Kenyan, Alfred Yego, in what must have been a most Herculean of efforts.
Gary Reed’s performance revitalized hope in the waning Canadian track and field scene. Reed continues to carry that torch even though the greater Canadian running landscape has improved since. The next big performance for Mr. Reed is the 2009 IAAF World Track and Field Championships taking place Berlin, Germany; no pressure Gary!
The few times I have had the opportunity to speak with Gary he has been nothing short of friendly, unassuming and honest. During my first ever video interview, which I hope never sees the light of day, Gary displayed a high level of diplomacy during my amateur shenanigans, to that: here is my written interview with Canada’s brightest track star, Mr. Gary Reed.
CK: Recently when we talked at the Track Classic in Victoria, British Columbia the day before your under-distance 400m race, you said that you are going to “go hard, then crawl off the track”, which is a solid character statement in itself.
In 2008 you ran the 800m in Victoria and then 800m at the Harry Jerome Track Classic, the results were both about a half a second faster than this year’s 800m race that you ran at Harry Jerome. How is your fitness compared to last year?
GR: My fitness is the best it’s ever been. This year of training has been great. I think sometimes it’s important not to get caught up in any one time. I try and focus on racing and just let the time come…
CK: Were you surprised by your 400m last week? Beforehand you said that “I am in over my head” but you finished in a tight cluster for 3rd?
GR: Well I mean over my head is not always a bad thing, I mean I honestly thought that race would be a lot faster, but it wasn’t. I haven’t run one in a few years, so it was a nice change and stimulus.
Results
1 Barrett, Dewayne Jamaica 47.17
2 Byron, Justin Virgin Island 47.45
3 Reed, Gary Canada 47.53
4 Ikwakor, AK Nigeria 48.27
5 Findlay, Adrian Jamaica 48.77
6 Barton, Jason United States 50.28
CK: You said your winter training adds up to about 70 miles-per-week. Can you describe a typical off-season week?
GR: My coach (Wynn Gmitroski) is a master of change, so nothing is really typical; it is always changing.
However, long runs are Sundays and that is pretty stapled. We have at least one hard tempo session off track that most of the time in the fall comes on Thursdays.
Editor’s note: Although Wynn is a master of change here is a sample week taken from an Athletics Canada interview from 2007:
-Running sessions – 2 times a day (hard session in the morning, recovering session at night).
-Strength training 2 – 3 times-per-week
-Flexibility session (yoga) 1 – 2 times per week
-Massage 2 – 3 times-per-week
-Physiotherapy 1 – 2 times-per-week
CK: You mentioned that you are looking at running in the 1:42 range. Is achieving this ‘academic’, in that you probably could have already done it if the circumstances presented themselves on the right day.
GR: I think running 1:42 is all about timing. Usually the period in the season, going into a Major is when you will usually see guys running 1:42s, then again that’s a special time and it takes a special athlete to run that so all the stars have to be in line for that to happen.
CK: Switching gears, what’s on your iPod right now?
GR: I have over 70k of songs so literally everything. Now if I am really hurting on a run I look forward to a dance song to come on and pick me up something by Tiesto will usually do it.
CK: Do you still have freezing cold showers before your races? And more importantly, why?
GR: Yes I do and it’s mainly to wake my body up for what is coming.
CK: You said in your epic, Star.com 2008 interview with Randy Starkman, that when you first arrived in Victoria, you had one chair and that was it. “No risks, no rewards, right”?
Hopefully, you now have more than one chair, but as for no risks, no rewards go, does that risk-taking attitude come out in your racing? I assume you lean more to the side of tactical when racing.
GR: Well I mean risk does not involve making bad decisions in my world. I still try and push out of my comfort zone because that’s where I have had the most success in my career. With racing it’s no different for me, I try and make the smartest possible decisions the difference is I usually only have .1 of a second to make those decisions.
CK: Again from the same interview: “It’s like turning a valve on and lighting a fire for a minute and 44-something seconds and then turning the valve off. … You can’t let it all out until you hear the gun.”
So are you in a constant state of carrying on about your business in forced control, keeping a handle on that emotion. Does the emotion come out in other ways, outside of running?
GR: I don’t think so. Running seems to really bring this out in me like nothing else I think that’s why I love it so much. Away from the track I am not super competitive, but I am focused on goals in my life.
CK: Wilson Kipketer said pretty much the same thing, during his post-retirement interview with Chris Turner of the IAAF – Is this what you are referring to:
Chris Turner: What will you miss about not being on the circuit?
Wilson Kipketer: What I will miss is the way I felt when running 800m, the way I felt when controlling the race, the feeling of leading a race, the atmosphere…this is what I am going to miss.
CT: What would you like your legacy to the sport be?
WK: I want this inner feeling to be known by the younger athletes, so they understand what that love of running is all about, I want to pass on my love and feeling for running.
GR: I would want people to look back on my career and realize no matter where you are born where you live and no matter what your circumstances they can become a world class athlete or anything they want in life. I want to be an example for all the underdogs in this world and people who are scared to take the road less travelled that if you make good decisions and stay focused good things will happen.
CK: Coe talked of the passion:
Sebastion Coe: “You have to have the vision, too. Vision is a romantic thing. We have got into ‘talent identification’. I am much more interested in passion – finding people who are really excited about doing something.”
CK: Training requires long-term vision. On a day to day basis, especially in the off-season, how does passion manifest itself?
GR: “Vision…”
Vision in a way is more important than anything in sport. You have to be able to lay in bed at night and see it and almost feel it. You should be able to paint a clear picture in your head about where you are going and what you want to achieve or in my opinion it will be very hard to get there.
CK: In your description of winning Silver at the World Track and Field championships, you said it was a feeling you never had before and that you didn’t know whether you should laugh or cry and that you didn’t know how to express whatever the feeling was you were experience in that moment.
Is that what drives you now, being in touch with or chasing that feeling?
GR: Yes after having a global medal as a goal for my whole life, it was very surreal to have achieved that feeling. That level of satisfaction was life changing for me and only made me want more.
Photo: By CK – 2008 Victoria Track Classic – The Staredown.
Chris is a member of the Lydiard Foundation
Contact: chriskelsall@flocasts.org
She throws. She scores. Sultana Frizell is a rising star on the hammer-throwing scene, recently setting a new Canadian record of 71.64m on April 18, 2009 in Walnut, Ca. The mark improves her own national record of 70.55 set in 2008.
Recently, Frizell placed third in a strong international field at the Grand Prix in Qatar, Doha with a throw of 69.86. Currently she is ranked ninth in the world, and is aiming for the World Athletics Championships in Berlin this summer.
Growing up in Perth, Ont., Frizell was also a figure skater, discus, javelin and shot put thrower before she decided to take up the hammer. In 2002, she was competing in the shot put, discus and javelin at a Legion Track Meet. Renowned Russian throws coach Anatoly Bondarchuk suggested that she try hammer throwing. She excelled at the event and soon earned her way to the University of Georgia’s track and field team.
Hammer throwing is now her event. “Pretty soon after I started hammer throwing, I knew it was the event for me… I loved it!” she laughs. “I think the hammer throw explains a little of my personality: controlled chaos!”
She wishes more people would share her enthusiasm. “The majority of people I meet not in the track world don’t know what hammer throw is. This is a shame because I think it is the best sport in track and field,” she says, adding with a laugh, “My personal opinion.”
Hammer throw is not a glamour event compared to figure skating. The women’s event made its debut at the Olympics in 2000, having only gained international sanctioning in 1998. The hammer throw is an athletic event where the object is to throw a heavy metal ball attached to a wire and handle. The name is derived from older competitions where an actual sledge hammer was thrown. Such competitions are still part of the Scottish Highland games. British Columbia is the only province where it is a high school sport.
Asked to describe the event, Frizell says, “The athlete spins quickly around in circles, pushing the hammer out in front. You have to know where it is in the spatial orbit, catch it and then push it just at the right moment into the triangular qualifying zone.”
At 23, she competed in the Beijing Olympics and threw 65.44m, placing 17th. Other career highlights include a seventh-place finish at the 2007 Pan American Games and a gold medal at the 2007 Canadian Track and Field Championships. She also won a bronze medal in the shot put at the 2005 national championships.
Frizell now lives and trains in Kamloops at the National Training Centre and is coached by Dr. Anatoly Bondarchuk. He competed for the Soviet Union and was the 1972 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the hammer throw. He had coached 13 Olympians before he was hired by the Kamloops Track and Field club in 2005.
Article by: by Christine Blanchette
by John Moe
Jared Connaughton passing to Pierre Browne in Beijing
They are two sprinters from opposite sides of the country with a lot in common. They both competed for the University of Texas at Arlington, they both hope to make the Canadian 4×100-metre relay team at this years’ World Athletics Championships in Berlin, and they happen to be the best of friends. Oh, and their names are Jared and Jarid.
Up until recently it was a slam dunk that Jared Connaughton and Jarid Vaughan would both compete in the 100 metres at this year’s Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic. However, like a bolt from the blue, a late invitation to run against triple Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Usain Bolt came for Connaughton, and he just couldn’t pass it up. Speaking on his cell phone while driving near the U.T.A. campus where he trains, he explained, “I just got confirmed for the Festival of Excellence meet in Toronto. The meet will be held on June 11 at the same track where the Canadian championships will be held later this summer.” The native of New Haven, P.E.I. had been looking forward to the Harry Jerome meet. “Running against Usain Bolt… it might not happen again. Any other season and I’d be at the Harry Jerome,” noted April’s Canadian Track and Field Athlete of the Month.
Career highlights for the 23-year-old give an observer plenty of reasons to get excited about Canada’s future in the 100m, 200m, and the sprint relay. In 2008 Connaughton ran a personal best time of 20.34 in the 200m at the National Championships at Windsor, Ont. That performance was also a championship record. At the 100m he has a p.b. of 10.15, run at an NCAA Southlands Conference meet at U.T.A. At last summer’s Olympic Games, he turned heads with a performance of 20.45 in the quarter-final and went on to place seventh in the semi. His 4×100-m relay team went all the way to the final, placing sixth in 38.66.
Jarid Vaughan now sprinting at UT Arlington
The other half of this Canadian dynamic duo, Langley native Jarid Vaughan, has made an impressive start to the 2009 track and field season. On April 11, the U.T.A. junior posted the fastest collegiate 200m in America so far this year, a 20.47 performance at the John Jacobs Invitational in Norman, Okla. Vaughan’s mark was a personal best and the fourth-fastest time in school history. The mark also easily qualified him for the NCAA Regionals. The 24-year-old son of Debbie and Bernie Vaughan ran an impressive 10.23 at the Texas Relays in the 100 meters, also good for the fourth-fastest time in the U.S. and the fourth-fastest all-time at U.T.A.
Even with those blistering times posted by Jarid this year, it’s likely the kinesiology major still has a surprise or two in store. Consider his high school career at R.E. Mountain Secondary in Langley: while posting p.b.s of 10.84, 21.66, and 47.7 (400m), Jarid also captured the Provincial Championship in the high jump with a leap of 2.05 metres. This is something like Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo switching to right wing next season and scoring 40 goals. It was Canadian high school 100-m record holder Peter Ogilvie who coached Jarid in 2004 and convinced him to focus on his sprinting.
With their rapid progressions over the past three years, the future does indeed seem very bright for Jarid and Jared. Or is that Jared and Jarid?
Do you have a memorable competition from the Harry Jerome?
Ruky: My most memorable competition from Harry Jerome was the 2008 Harry Jerome track meet. It is memorable not only for winning the long jump but for the first time ever in my track and field competition that I realize I might be wearing the Canadian colours in Beijing. That was very special to me. And, it was also memorable because it proved to me that everything I had been doing was the right choice.
It must have been a real thrill competing in the Olympics in Beijing. What was it like?
Ruky: It was definitely a great experience and competing against the world best jumpers. The energy around the Olympic Village was great. It was very nice to see people from around the world for the same purpose. But mostly I’m a part of history.
How is your training and competition schedule different this year from last year?
Ruky: My schedule hasn’t changed much, but there are few things that we are working on to improve my take off from the board. I’m also training a bit more than last year.
Who were your track idols growing up and why?
Ruky: My Track idols while growing up were Marion Jones and Michael Jonson. They were my idol because every time I decided to quit track , they motivate me as I watch them run and to stay strong and believe that I can do it
As a fan, who are your favourite track and field athletes to watch right now?
Ruky: I will say Russian long jumper Tayana Lebedeva and Canadian 100m hurdler Priscilla Lopez-Schliep.
In the major professional sports salaries are well-known, but its not so clear in track and field. Can you give us a sense of how much money you or others make?
Ruky: I cannot give a specific amount because I just started competing professionally since June 2008. As for others, I’m sure they are making about $10.000 – $40.000 depending on the athletes level of performance. I could say that I’m not making up to that amount yet because I’m new to competing as a professional athlete.
How did you celebrate after the Olympics were over?
Ruky: I did not celebrate after the Olympics. Although I did visit my family in Ghana after the games and we had a good time together.
Could you give a general training tip or inspirational quote that we will feature on the site?
Ruky: Great people were not born great. They became great by making a decision to pursue their dream in life and by refusing to give up. The struggle we must all face on the road to our dreams is what makes us great. Ordinary people can become extraordinary if they dedicate their lives to the pursuit of their dreams.
Interview by Allan Klassen
Gary Reed
Since making the 800-metre final in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Gary Reed has proven himself as one of the world’s best half-milers. His inspiring performance at the 2007 World Championships, in which he led nearly the entire race, won him a silver medal. He finished fourth in the Beijing Olympic Games, narrowly missing the podium. The 27-year-old Kamloops native holds the Canadian record at 1:43.68, a mark he set in Monaco last year.
How is your training and racing schedule different this year from last year?
I will start racing a few weeks earlier this year. I hope to improve my speed as well.
Who were your track idols growing up and why?
I was a big Wilson Kipketer fan growing up. He was so dominant and so smooth; it was unreal to watch as a kid.
As a fan, who are your favourite track and field athletes to watch right now?
I like watching the young athletes break through. Any athlete that believes in themselves is a treat to watch.
In the major professional sports, salaries are well known, but in track and field it’s not so clear. Can you give us a sense of how much you or other athletes make?
I think it’s not so clear because from event to event it’s very different. A thrower will not typically earn as much as a 100-metre runner, and earnings are largely performance-based and fluctuate largely from year to year.
How did you celebrate after the Olympics were over?
I spent some time with my family and my girlfriend’s family in Kamloops. I also had a nice time in Vegas and Hawaii later in the month.
Dylan Armstrong (born 15 January 1981) is a Canadian shot putter. He was born and raised in Kamloops.
His personal best, and the Canadian record, is 21.04 meters. This was achieved at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he finished fourth, finishing out of a medal by a single centimetre. He is a three-time Canadian national champion in the shot put. Armstrong currently trains with coach Anatoli Bondarchuk in his home town of Kamloops, British Columbia.
Prior to focusing on the shot put in 2004, Armstrong competed in the hammer throw. As a junior, he won a gold medal at the 1999 Pan American Junior Games and a silver medal at the 2000 World Junior Championships. He continues to hold the North American high school and junior records in the hammer throw. His personal best is 71.51 meters, achieved in April 2003 in Walnut.
