Mickey medals, learns on track

Arduous first day worth it in the end

She’d practised for months, flown all the way to Ottawa to compete for a national title, but all that mattered Tuesday morning was whether Sarah Mickey could pull herself up.

The Redcliff athlete was all set for her para seated discus event at the Canadian Track and Field Championships. But every time she’d thrown previously, someone had helped her get up to the special frame used for athletes who would otherwise need a wheelchair to get around.

“I told them how to set my throwing chair up and they just looked at me,” said Mickey via cellphone Wednesday. “I said I do need help to get into my chair, they said what classification are you and they said we can’t help you.

“It was a mess; I was a mess. I was very upset, I’ve flown across the country. That’s what frustrated me the most; someone lifting me into the chair does not affect my performance and how I throw.

“And who gets to decide who needs help and who doesn’t need help?”

Mickey threw anyhow, but was disqualified from the event. Rules are rules, and nobody — not from her club, the provincial or high school meets she’d attended in the past — had told her about this one.

She had one hour until the next event — the javelin toss — to figure something out.

“I had taken my throwing chair and my dad came with me, we were practising ways to get onto the chair,” she said. “I found a way but it’s not the easiest way. From the time the chair’s in place you have four minutes to get in, strap down and do your practice throws.

“It literally exhausted me to get into the chair.”

Once she did, she threw it further than she ever has before, 12.35 metres. Good for a silver medal.

On Wednesday she added a bronze, throwing the shot put 5.92 metres. An Athletics Alberta coach tracked down what’s known as a transfer board to make getting up to the throwing apparatus easier.

It certainly wasn’t an ideal second trip to nationals, but the hardware will help dull the stress of it all. Adding to the sub-par experience compared to 2016’s Olympic Trials in Edmonotn was that the paraathletes did not compete in time slots near their able-bodied counterparts. Andre De Grasse et al will start their events today.

“It was kind of weird in a sense, there wasn’t as much of a big deal about it,” said Mickey. “There was no one really in the crowds... It didn’t really feel like the same competition.

“But it was still cool, there was a lot more female throwers especially.”

Ontario’s Julia Hanes completed her sweep of the throwing events, tossing the shot put 6.93 metres. Her Raza scores — which are based off national and world records for specific disability categories and allow para athletes with different disabilities to compete against each other — were consistently above 1,000. Mickey’s 595 in shot put was behind Quebec’s Pamela Lejean’s 881, even though Lejean only threw 4.39 metres. So Lejean, who will go to the world championships later this year, finished second.

Mickey knows she still has lots to learn about her new sport, but the trip to Ottawa also proves she’s among the best in the country as is. A trip to the Paralympics is a realistic goal.

“I still have room for improvement, definitely,” she said. “I need to work more on technique, practice more because I’m still really new at it.

“I would definitely like to aim for the Paralympics, that’s in my sights for the future.”

Mickey will finish her summer with two meets in Winnipeg, including the Canada Summer Games which start at the end of July.