Split decision leads to gold medal, record time

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This article was published 17/08/2011 (5455 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes it’s the last-minute decisions, made on a whim, that turn out best.

Sam Vincent wasn’t planning to run the 3,000-metres at the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, B.C., but decided to enter the night before the race.

The 19-year-old Point Douglas resident had already won a gold medal in the 1,500-metres, and had finished fourth in the 800. He figured he had nothing to lose, and would just run a relaxed and loose race.

“The weird thing about the 3,000 was that it was the only race I didn’t care as much about,” said Vincent, who specializes in the 800 and 1,500, and is starting to find success in the 400 for the University of Manitoba track team.

Armed with his carefree attitude, Vincent shadowed the lead for most of the race, staying on the back shoulder of whoever went to the front of the pack.

Feeling strong, he picked up his pace with 600 metres to go, and only one runner from Alberta could match him. At 300 metres from the line, his rival ran out of gas, and Vincent cruised to victory in a time of 8 minutes, 31.21 seconds, smashing the Games record by more than 13 seconds.

“I felt more natural, and I was just trying to see how fast I could go,” Vincent said. “I don’t run the 3,000 that often. It was obviously a good decision to enter.”

A year into his university track career, the St. John’s High School grad says he’s improved every aspect of his running.

“I’ve just gotten overall better in everything,” Vincent said. “I have more speed and more endurance.”

Although his success in the 3,000 is nice, Vincent isn’t about to shift his focus from middle distances to longer events. His priority, like most young runners, is to develop as much top-end speed as he can before worrying about how far he can maintain it.

“I’m an 800 guy,” he said. “I’ve also done the 400 recently and did pretty pretty well, so I’m versatile, I like to think. I have plenty of time to make that decision (to move up in distance).”

Some of Vincent’s best results as a Bison have been at the 1,500-metre distance, winning the Bison Classic and finishing third at the Canada West meet.

In the short term, Vincent took about six days off from the end of the outdoor track season before starting to prepare for cross-country.

Looking ahead, he’s hoping to earn a spot on a national team; something he acknowledges is probably at least a couple years away.

And after experiencing a multi-sport interprovincial competition for the first time, Vincent is definitely going to do what it takes to represent Manitoba at the 2013 Canada Summer Games.

“It was really interesting,” he said of the Kamloops event. “You had to walk around with badges everywhere. Security was tight, almost like the actual Olympics.”

Manitoba track and field athletes won 12 medals in Kamloops. Also setting new Games records were Meagan Paracholski in the 800-metres and Melissa Kitching in the 400-metre hurdles.

avi.saper@canstarnews.com