On August 4th, Craig Thorne will be racing his first Olympic trial in Paris. We caught up with him while the Canadian track team was in Barcelona, just after the opening ceremonies. The track team started competing in events in Paris Thursday.
New Bruswick Sports Hall of Fame: This is your debut Olympics, what kind of result are you looking for?
Craig Thorne: “I'm in really good shape right now, [thanks to] practices and competitions this season. And it's going to be a really good opportunity to race really fast guys…If I go there and run as fast as I can, then there's really no complaining. After that, I'll let the chips fall where they need to fall. But yeah, my mindset going in is just to lay everything out on the line.”
NBSHF: What does it look like to train for this level of competition?
CT: It’s been pretty tough training six days a week, probably 340 days a year. You don't really get much days off. Some days are a bit easier than others. But now I'm just kind of used to the grind of it: waking up, practicing for four or five hours a day; getting therapy, senior dietitians, nutritionists; hydrating, doing all the all the little things.
Today, I had an off day but I have a hard day tomorrow: So, wake up, breakfast, head to the track, probably do a 2 1/2 hour track session, go to weight room for about an hour. Then it's go back to the hotel, get some food, get some hydration into me, then right to get some therapy, whether it's like massage or chiro or acupuncture. Then after that's all done, you have the rest of your day to yourself.
NBSHF: The recovery must be like a big part of it, eh?
CT: Yeah, that's the thing. You have to be able to bounce back quick because you have you only have so many days. You have to break [training] up into big workouts. If I have a big workout on Sunday night, then Monday all day, then another big workout on Tuesday, I need to really be on so that I don’t lose that workout on Tuesday.
NBSHF: 110-Metre hurdles looks like a challenging event.
CT: You’re pretty much going over a kitchen counter height in a race, which is cool.
NBSHF: That’s pretty daunting.
CT: For me, I don’t really think of it like that. There’s definitely a ton of technique to it, especially the way I hurdle. I’m a technically sound hurdler. But then you also still have to bring in so much speed because, you know, speed kills.
NBSHF: And so what differentiates you technically?
CT: The best part of my technique is my airtime over the hurdles. I’m always really close to the hurdles without hitting them, so I don’t waste much time in the air. Over top of the hurdle, I’m probably one of the best in the world at it, which is why I'm here for sure.
NBSHF: And what, in the beginning, attracted you to hurdling in particular?
CT: Yeah, so I started track, as one does, through middle school, trying to get a day off of school in late June. But I started enjoying it, and people said “you're pretty good at it.” So, I joined a local track club. When they introduced the hurdling I just thought it was this like challenging but thrilling movement. Once I tried it I thought “oh I can do that better.” There's just so much to improve on it. It's not just about speed, it's it's about so many different other things. And that’s what hooked me. Ever since, I've just loved it.
NBSHF: So it was kind of a fascinating challenge.
CT: Yeah, exactly. And even now, I'm at a point where I've made the Olympics, which is a cool achievement. But I'm still learning so much within the sport and still I feel like I still have so much more to give, which is also exciting. Being able to be at this stage and still feel like you have so much to learn, it's very exciting.
NBSHF: Well, best of luck to you, and I hope you get a result that you’re very satisfied with.
CT: I appreciate that, thank you very much. It’s been nice to hear from all the people from New Brunswick. The support’s been phenomenal.
NBSHF: Well we’re rooting for you, and we’ll be watching for sure. Thank you so much for your time.
CT: Thank you very much. Bye bye.
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