Running down a dream

EAST KILDONAN

University of Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2024 (767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To achieve a goal, you need to believe in yourself.

That’s something Jordan Soufi puts into practise each time he steps onto the track to race or into the gym to train. The 23-year-old sprinter from East Kildonan, who races indoors with the University of Manitoba Bisons track and field team and outdoors with Winnipeg Optimist Athletics, recently ran a personal best in the 200 metres and came close to matching his personal best in the 100 metre races while racing against some of the country’s top sprinters at the Canadian national championships and Olympic trials in Montreal, Que., on the last weekend of June.

“Racing against Andre de Grasse was a cool experience,” Soufi said of lining up against the six-time Olympic medalist.

“I never had that kind of pressure before, never raced against that high calibre of competition before. The race itself, I had a pretty good start until about 50. Onwards, I kind of lost my rhythm.”

Soufi ran two 100-metre races in Montreal — a qualifying round, which he ran in 10.3 seconds, and a semi-final, which he completed in 10.46, good for 13th overall. He did the same in the 200 metres and ran the semi-final race in 21.19, a new personal best, which placed him 10th, just outside the final.

“I was a little hesitant on even entering the qualifier for the 200 metres, because it’s not my main event,” Soufi admitted.

“(But) I looked at the heat sheets, and I was in lane 8, my favourite lane, you don’t need to fight the curves so hard. I was just trying to run the race relaxed. When I saw my time, I was delighted. I was able to beat my personal best by over half a second.”

De Grasse went on to win the 100 metres in 10.20, while Aaron Brown won the 200 in 20.09 (De Grasse didn’t run that distance, having already achieved the Olympic qualifying standard earlier in the season).

“De Grasse is known for his top-end speed, and his strong finish,” said Soufi, the reigning USports champion in the 60-metre indoor sprint. He said he’s focused now on improving his endurance in an effort to finish races stronger than ever next season, his final as a USports athlete with the Bisons.

“I’d like to change my workout slightly,” he said, “One workout a week, I’ll go with long-sprint group (200-400 metre racters), to build endurance. The 60 metres, indoors, my strategy is to stay more relaxed, tuck my arms in more, and focus on just running through the line. In terms of outdoor, the marks I’d like to hit are 10.2 for 100 and under 21 for 200. If I want to hit those marks, the things I need to fix are maintaining my rhythm through the last 40 metres, tucking my arms in and having a good start. Same principal for the 200, while driving through that first 50 metres.”

Beyond individual goals, Soufi hopes the Bisons team can capture the USports championship in the upcoming season, after coming within seven points of the University of Guelph at the 2024 national championship meet, which was held in March at the University of Manitoba’s James Daly Fieldhouse.

“We were pretty darn close,” Soufi said. “We’ve made some progress in terms of team standards. We hope to win this year, if we have everything go as planned. We’ll see.”

In the meantime, he’ll race at least once, perhaps twice, this summer, while continuing to train.

“You have to believe in yourself, for sure,” he added.