Kevin Nagel Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 23 | Friday, August 19, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Smeenk ready to medal in Rio By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Austin Smeenk celebrated as he crossed the finish line of the 200-metre final in record time. Not only had the Oakville wheelchair racer set a new national standard, the victory completed an unlikely sweep of his four races at the Canadian Championships and Rio Selection Trials. It's not that Smeenk wasn't a favourite to contend in each of his para-wheelchair events, it was that he was racing in a combined class. He not only topped everyone in his T34 class, he also bettered his rivals in T53, a class for competitors with better mobility and, therefore, usually faster times. Over the first two days of the meet, he had done the same in the 100m, 400m and 800m distances. Before the last race Smeenk's friend talked about the possibility of a fourth gold medal, and now he'd done it. Even more importantly, Smeenk already held the Canadian records in those three events and now he'd achieved a personal goal by checking off the 200m as well. The celebration was short-lived, though. A protest had been lodged because an official had stepped on the track during the race. Smeenk couldn't believe it when the competitors were sent back to the start line to re-run the race. In the year leading up to the biggest event of his racing career, Smeenk had already faced plenty of adversity. · · · Smeenk had been looking forward to the ParaPan Am Games in Toronto all year. It was going to be his moment to shine. He had set personal bests and made the finals in all four of his events at the world championships in France, and now he was going to be able to show the results of his training, which had propelled him to among the best in the world, in front of a home crowd and likely even win a medal or two. He had about 40 people who had bought tickets to watch him compete; some relatives were flying in from western Canada and had booked their flights and hotels. Austin Smeenk crosses the finish line at Canadian Nationals and Rio Selection Trials in Edmonton where he won all four of his events and set a new Canadian record in the 200 metres. Smeenk's strong showing earned him a spot on the Canadian Paralympic team that will compete in Rio Sept. 7-18. The 19-year-old will compete in the T34 100m (Sept. 11-12) and 800m (Sept. 14).| photo courtesy of Canadian Paralympic Committee Then, just two weeks before he was set to move into the athletes' village, he got a phone call. There would be no Parapan Am Games for Smeenk. His events had been cancelled due to the low number of entries. It felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under him. "It set me off a little bit," Smeenk said. "I didn't train for a month. And by virtue of being a first-year college student, my diet wasn't the best." Over the next few months, Smeenk put on more than 20 pounds. ...What if the opportunity never comes back? Should I have gone? Canadian Paralympian team member Austin Smeenk "For our athletes, there are not a lot of chances for their families to watch them compete in major events," said Ken Thom, his coach with the Mississauga Cruisers. "It was a major letdown and I think he felt responsible for people having spent money to come see him compete. Losing that chance to race just got him into a negative funk." When the world championships in Doha, Qatar rolled around three months later, Smeenk still hadn't completely gotten over being shut out of the Parapan Am Games. His times across the board were slower than the previous worlds and he failed to make a single final. "That was not acceptable at all," Smeenk said. · · · Smeenk and Thom got together in January to discuss his goals for the season. The big one was obvious -- make the Canadian Paralympic team for Rio. Smeenk was in consideration for the Canadian team in 2012 for London. He had met the qualifying standards and won two gold medals at the national championships that year and was ranked eighth in the world. However, Thom suggested that he withdraw his name from consideration. Smeenk, just 15 at the time, was still in high school at Iroquois Ridge. "That was a tough call to make," said Thom, who discussed it with Austin and his parents. "I have to give the Smeenks a lot of credit. When you have someone in the family, you want them to make it. But Austin has a long career ahead of him. He could race into his late 20s, early 30s. It was the best thing for his development. It made him hungry." Thom was speaking from experience. His own son, Curtis, made the Canadian sledge hockey team at 15 and was overwhelmed by the experience. Given the chance again, he'd do what he was now asking Austin and his family to do. Smeenk couldn't help but wonder, though. "That was always the fear. What if I break my arm or tear a rotator cuff? What if the opportunity never comes back? Should I have gone?" Smeenk said. "I think it was the right call, though. It was the best advice, to focus on going to Rio to medal, not going just to be there." To do that Thom had to get Smeenk refocused. His advice was to control what he could control and not worry about anything else. Thom also said Smeenk had become too reliant on his wheelchair when he started school at Fanshawe College, which affected his fitness. (Smeenk has spastic paraplegia, a hereditary disease that causes progressive stiffness and contraction in the lower limbs, but does allow him to walk short distances). Smeenk had already realized after worlds that things needed to change if he was going to go to the Paralympics. By the time he showed up to the first national team training camp, he had shed the weight he had put on. "It was just so much easier when I wasn't pulling that extra weight," he said. At the Desert Challenge Games in Arizona in May, Smeenk recorded a time of 1:45.72 in the 800m. It was the second fastest time in the world this year and remained so for a couple of months. It was also just 1/100th of a second off the winning time from the London Paralympics. Two weeks later at the Swiss Open Nationals, a premier international wheelchair event, Smeenk turned in three top-eight finishes. In the 800m, nobody turned in a time better than 1:47.00. "It was truly motivating," Smeenk said. "It was all the guys who had medalled at worlds. I hadn't raced those guys in a year or so, and the last time I did, I got crushed." Now, after being named to the Paralympic team last week, Smeenk heads to Rio knowing he can compete with the best in the world. · · · Making his way back to the starting line to re-run the 200m at nationals, Smeenk knew there was only one thing he could control. Racing fast. When the gun sounded, he took off. He crossed the line in 27.85 seconds. He had his fourth victory and a new Canadian record. "At the end of last year, it was all negative," Smeenk said. "But it's been all positive in training. I'm not questioning anything I've been doing for the last four years. As my coach says, `Plan to work, work the plan.'" For Smeenk, the plan is all coming together.