Another future Olympian for the province.
Craig Thorne is the first male athlete from New Brunswick to play for Team Canada at the Olympics since 2000.
The 23-year-old will travel to Paris later this month to compete in the 110-metre hurdle event.
He started in track and field events in middle school, and that’s when he realised he had a talent for it. In high school, he was first recognized by the local track club. He grew up playing hockey and other sports, but he became very interested and invested in track when he was around 14 or 15 years old.
“There’s something about it that I got hooked on at a young age, and I haven’t lost it yet,” Thorne says.
Training is all year round with only around two to three weeks off total.
Thorne was born in Miramichi but grew up in Quispamsis. He currently attends university and trains in Guelph, Ontario.
Thorne didn’t achieve a qualifying time to be chosen for the Olympics, but he had enough points to be chosen for the team.
“It has to do with points and what competitions you’re going to and what times you’re running. If you have enough points, you get put into the quota, which is the top 40. If you’re still in that point quota in the top 40 by the deadline, then you’ll get invited to go to the Olympics,” Thorne adds.
Thorne is hoping to draw a lot more attention to the sport in New Brunswick.
“Being from a smaller town, a smaller province, some kids can get discouraged. I went through that phase when I was younger, thinking there’s no way I can do this because I’m from such a small area. But, hopefully, this just tells the kids that this is possible wherever you’re from, as long as you just put the work into it.”
Thorne says he has been lucky enough to compete at some pretty substantial track meets over the past two years, with trips to Europe against some high-calibre competitors, and he has had some experience to help him prepare for the Olympics.
“Last summer, I raced at a meet in Zurich, and, I’m racing in front of 30,000 people, so that experience is going to obviously help ease the pressure when I get to the Olympics, but it’s going to still be very different,” Thorne says.
He adds he is in really good shape right now, and training has been going extremely well.
“I want to go out there and run the best I’ve ever run. I’d love to hit a couple of personal bests out there, and if I do that, then I’m just going to let everything happen itself. Obviously, making a semi-final would be perfect, but I think just going out there and running the fastest time I’ve ever run would be a really good goal.”
As for advice he has for youth in New Brunswick who are currently involved in track and field or are thinking of trying it, “It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen. You have to stick with it and keep working and keep chipping away. And, yeah, your dreams, can come true.”
