HIGH-JUMPERS LOVETT AND MASON GROWING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS
B.C. buddies among the best in the world and on track for the Olympics in Tokyo
Django Lovett held up his right hand, thumb and forefinger one centimetre apart.
“It’s this much. Are you going to let this much get in your head? Or are you going to forget about it and just go jump?”
It’s preferable to do the latter, but when that centimetre is the difference between 2.29 and
2.30 and you happen to be a high jumper, it’s as much about mind over matter as it is about body over bar.
If you haven’t cleared 2.30, you’re not quite in the game on a global scale. You’re close. You’re that close. But 2.30 is the bar.
“It seems to be the number that brands you as a world-class high-jumper,” Lovett said.
Lovett has been over 2.30, twice in fact, so he’s world class. So is Mike Mason, who sports a personal best of 2.33 and a season best of 2.31.
They’re both from B.C. Lovett was born in Surrey, Mason in New Westminster.
They’re both ranked among the top 12 in the world.
They’re friends and often roommates, which is the case here at the Canadian Track and Field Championships.
In the absence of reigning Olympic champ and Canadian record-holder Derek Drouin, who has jumped 2.40 but is out with an injury, Mason and Lovett are the only jumpers in the 16-man field who have cleared 2.30. One of them surely will win the competition here on Saturday and both should be going to the world championships in the fall. They’re legitimate international jumpers who have made one another better.
“It’s been quite a journey for me,” said Lovett, who at 27 is six years younger than Mason. “I remember in 2008, when I was just getting into track, Mike was qualifying for Beijing. I’m just a kid. I was going to try to find the high jump at the Olympics (online). I remember being so upset that I couldn’t find it or they weren’t streaming it or something.
“So going from Mike being one of my idols to when I started training with him in 2015 or ’16 to him becoming more of a mentor and now a friend and teammate, for me it’s been great. I have learned so much from Mike. How to hold my composure. He’s been there when I need the help. I’m hoping I can be there if he needs help now that we’re kind of levelling out.”
Though the relationship had to change, they remain fast friends and respectful competitors.
“We’re very similar. It’s easy to be friends,” said Mason, who explained how and why the dynamics evolved.
“He’s done very well and had some huge improvements. Now it’s more like a good, healthy competitive vibe (between them). I want to pass on what I know, but you reach a point (where) you’ve got to watch out for yourself and you’ve got to be competitive. That’s what it’s about. There’s got to be a boundary at a certain limit and I think we’ve reached that limit. It’s very healthy.”
Lovett’s evolution and Mason’s longevity are good for the sport in Canada, particularly since Drouin won’t be competing here or at the Pan Am Games later this month or the world championships in the fall.
Mason jumped a then world-leading 2.31 on April 5. Fifteen days later, Lovett cleared 2.30. Only 13 men on the planet have jumped that high this year.
The Canadians are current, relevant jumpers tracking well toward the Tokyo Olympics.
“I don’t feel like I’m out yet,” said Mason, who broke out as the world junior champ in 2004. “The way I’ve been performing and physically feeling, I’ve had meets where I feel, ‘Hey, this could have been a PB today.’ It’s been that close.
“That’s where I draw the line, when it’s time to retire, if my body gets to the point where I don’t feel I can go that next step or possibly get a personal best or perform at the highest level, then it’s not worth me pursuing it.
“I have a lot of confidence in my coaches and my training program getting me there. I’ve been working so hard to build the confidence in myself, too.
I’ve done all this. I’ve had a lot of good performances. The technical is there. I can put it together.”
Lovett had a similar watershed realization last year, winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games by going over 2.30 for the first time.
“That might have been the breakthrough. Yes, I found my place. I was right and I found validation that I do belong here doing what I’m doing,” he said.
It was confirmation the decision he made in 2016 to continue, after a talk with Mason, was the right one. Lovett had struggled at university in New Mexico and thought about quitting.
“I think he said, ‘I’m not going to talk you out of the sport. You should really think about it because I’d hate to see you step away from it. Make sure it’s the right decision.’ Fortunately, I stuck with it and here we are now,” said Lovett.