FROM HONEY DIPS TO PODIUM TRIPS
Canadian sprinter Emmanuel was ‘tired of underachieving,’ so she refined her training
The fastest route to the finish line is not by way of the Tim Hortons drive-thru.
Sprinter Crystal Emmanuel was loath to eschew the detour, such was the pull of her sweet tooth.
“Iced Capps from Tim Hortons, those are like my favourite things,” she said during an interview last month. “Honey dip doughnuts from Tim Hortons. Those are the things I was eating.”
A large Iced Capp is packed with 470 calories, 20 grams of fat and 63 grams of carbohydrates, while a honey dip offers 190 calories, six grams of fat and 31 grams of carbs. Such are her physical gifts that the Toronto speedster was somehow turning empty calories into a full trophy case. She won the 100-metre Canadian title in 2011, 2013 and 2014 and finished second in 2012. She claimed the 200-metre crown in 2011 and 2012 and finished second in 2013 and 2014.
“I ate junk, but I worked hard,” she said of her dominance.
But a vicious circle of ingestion and exertion was never going to produce her best. In 2015, with an eye on a breakout performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, she sought a more holistic and professional approach to her craft and formed a working relationship with Charles Allen, a former national team hurdler and sprinter.
“He helped me with eating, taking care of my body, listening to my body,” said Emmanuel, 26. “So working with him was a great lesson for me because I didn’t know myself in terms of track. He helped me a lot with finding myself, to know what my body needs and how I need to treat my body.”
She finished second in both the 100-metre and 200-metre finals at the Canadian championships in 2015 and didn’t get to a final in Rio, but she hasn’t lost a domestic title since. She doubled up at the 2016, 2017 and 2018 national meets, lowered the Canadian record in the 200 metres to 22.50 seconds last summer and dropped her personal best in the 100 metres to 11.11 last month at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships in Toronto, making her the third-fastest Canadian woman in history at that distance.
Only Angela Bailey (10.98 in 1987) and Philomena Mensah (11.03 in 1999) have been quicker, at least legally. Angella Issajenko’s then-Canadian record of 10.97 from 1987 was wiped off the books after the Dubin Inquiry laid bare her steroid use.
“I know there is more in the tank,” Emmanuel said.
“This is just the beginning. I told coach I want to be in the history books. I want to be that woman that the young girls and women coming up can look up to and say, ‘She is my inspiration, she did it, we can do it.’ I want to be that strong force. I’m working to run as fast as my legs can take me. I know Charles can take me from 11.1 to 10.9, so I’m just going to work hard at that.”
So much of the hard work has already been done as together they have transformed her into a more professional athlete.
“She was tired of underachieving,” said Allen. “Tired of wanting to do better and just not having the breakthroughs. Where I came in was to provide guidance, to help her make some adjustments in her personal life in terms of how she eats, what sacrifices she has to make.
“When she was on the track, she was very serious about what she was getting done. But she didn’t understand that what she did off the track carried over to what she was doing on the track.”
They also worked on improving her technique, exploiting strengths, shoring up weaknesses, fine-tuning the race model. She is still learning how to run internationally, dealing with pressure, expectations, rivals and time zones. It has been a grind, but the battle to get better pales in comparison to what her mother Rosalind experienced while beating cancer and recovering from a stroke.
“My mom is the person I look up to all the time because I almost lost her a few years ago. She fought to stay in this world to watch me and watch my brother grow up and help us and guide us. So I look up to her and she helps me in a million ways. She put up a fight, so I can put up a fight, to show the world that I am talented and fast and that Canadian women are so strong and coming up.”
She always had the potential and is now turning it into consistent performance. If all goes according to plan, she will be an Olympic finalist, perhaps a podium threat, in the 100 metres at Tokyo 2020.
“She has certainly come into her own as a sprinter. I think a lot of it is in her confidence,” said Glenroy Gilbert, Athletics Canada’s head coach. “Charles has done a good job of understanding her as an individual and some of the things she can do, likes to do and doesn’t like to do and respecting those boundaries and helping her professionalize her approach to the sport.”
Iced capps from Tim Hortons, those Are like my favourite things. Honey dip doughnuts from Tim Hortons. Those Are the things I was eating.