Two-time Olympian bounces back from injury
Javelin thrower Liz Gleadle looking to work on her focus this year
The good news is that Liz Gleadle is healthy. The bad news is that it’s taking some getting used to for her.
“I’m just so excited this year. I’m having trouble toning it down,” said the 28-year-old javelin thrower from Vancouver, a two-time Olympian who’s one of the showcase competitors for The Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome Track Classic on June 28 at Percy Perry Stadium in Coquitlam.
“Physically, I’m in fantastic shape. I’m really healthy. Now, I need to work on my focus and really being in the moment during competitions.”
Gleadle suffered a back injury while weight training in March 2016.
She felt it threw her body out of alignment, and javelin, by all accounts, is about finicky precision. As Gleadle said, “javelin and pole vault are the most technical of all the field events. It’s hard to say which one is more technical.”
Outside of 2013, when injuries limited her to just one meet, last season marked the first time since Gleadle started in javelin that she didn’t establish a personal best in a season.
She finished 16th at the 2016 Rio Olympics, thanks to a throw of 60.28 metres. Her top throw of the campaign came in May, with a 62.59-metre toss at a competition in Kawasaki, Japan.
She set the Canadian record in Kawasaki almost a year to the day earlier, with a 64.83-metre effort.
“It was really hard mentally,” the 6-1 Gleadle said of last season. “I’m an athlete. I’m a Type A (personality) athlete. I like to be in control. I really wasn’t.
“One of the first years that I did track and field and actually trained, I had a personal best six meets in a row. I remember my coach telling me, ‘This is irregular. This won’t keep happening.’ Most people go through up and down years. I really experienced my first down year last year. It’s a new challenge for me.”
Gleadle threw 62.30 metres in April during a UBC meet. According to Athletics Canada’s website, it’s the best mark for a Canadian woman so far this season by nearly six metres.
Gleadle also finished a disappointing ninth at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. last month, throwing just 54.17 metres.
“Am I happy with 62.30? No. I’d like it to be further,” explained the Kitsilano and UBC product. “When you train all winter like we train, you expect a lot of yourself.”
Gleadle said she’s shooting for a personal best at the Jerome meet. She claimed the meet is “always special” for her, because it’s the best chance for friends and family to see her compete live.
She has the Jerome meet record, thanks to her 64.34-metre throw in 2015.
Last year, the Jerome may have summed up her season. She threw 57.00, which left her second by a single centimetre behind New Westminster’s Krista Woodward.
Also, one of Gleadle’s attempts landed out of bounds and clipped the shirt of a TV cameraman standing apparently too close for comfort. He was OK, though.
“What was going through my head then? ‘Oh no,’” she said after the meet last year. “It’s not a great feeling. I’ve almost hit other people before because they’ve walked onto the field during practice, but that’s a totally different situation. It’s regrettable. But he’s OK and that’s all the matters.”
“I really experienced my first down year last year. It’s a new challenge for me.” — Liz Gleadle