By David Karp
Mohamed Souleiman’s journey to the 2014 Canada Summer Games started with a Grade 9 history test.
Souleiman, then a student at Louis-Riel high school in Gloucester, hadn’t studied for the impending exam and was looking for an excuse to get out of the test.
Fortunately, his school was hosting a track meet the same day as the test.
“I had casual Nike shoes – not even running shoes,” Souleiman recounts. “And I told the coach I wanted to run.”
Louis-Riel coach Sébastian Lalonde took a chance and entered Souleiman into the 1,500 metres. Souleiman won by a hefty margin, and was hooked on track. He also got the weekend to study for his history exam.
“I remember going into that test confident and killing it,” he smiles.
Fast forward five years, and Souleiman is headed to the Canada Games to run the 1,500 once again. The 19-year-old is one of five current or former Ottawa Lions athletes competing in Sherbrooke, along with 100 m hurdler Devyani Biswal, 400 m sprinter Devin Pinciaroli-Biocchi, middle distance runner Yves Sikubwabo and steeplechaser Alex Berhe.
After flirting with the 800 m, Souleiman returned to his roots this year, focusing on the 1,500. He cut 10 seconds off his time over the last year, and has lofty hopes for the Games.
“The gold medal is the plan,” signals the University of Ottawa political science student.
Biswal hurdles over injury
Like Souleiman, Biswal took up competitive running in Grade 9 and has high hopes for her Canada Summer Games. But the similarities end there. Biswal’s road to the Canada Games has been much rockier. The 20-year-old hurdler tore her plantar fascia – the thick connective tissue that supports the foot’s arch – the summer after Grade 11.
Rehabilitation was not easy. Biswal tried to return to competition earlier than expected, only to reinjure her foot. In total, she lost two seasons to the injury. When Biswal finally returned to the track last season, it was a grind. She contemplated quitting.
“My results weren’t great,” the Gee-Gees athlete recalls. “Coming back and running personal worst after personal worst was not encouraging. It was not a good time.”
But the former competitive chess player and figure skater stuck with it.
“Hurdles just gave me something technical to focus on,” says Biswal, the daughter of two economists who dreams of becoming an actuary one day. “There’s a connection with math – the takeoff angles and the angle that your leg comes off (the hurdles) – it really comes into play when you’re thinking about things.”
Biswal’s patience with her recovery is finally paying dividends. She won a bronze medal at the Ontario university championships in February in the 60 m hurdles. In June, Biswal placed 10th in the 100 hurdles at the Canadian Track and Field Championships, and then won the same event at Ontario’s Canada Games trials.
“I was just really happy that I finally made a team and won a race this season,” Biswal adds.
Lions’ international flair
Pinciaroli-Biocchi will be following in his father’s footsteps when he runs the 400 m in Sherbrooke. Argentina-born Dan Biocchi, a 200 m sprinter, competed at the Canada Games and represented Canada at the 1976 Olympics. But Pinciaroli-Biocchi insists he’s never felt any pressure because of his pedigree.
“I never really did it for him,” Pinciaroli-Biocchi said. “I just loved running. I loved running to stores. I loved running to my friends’ houses. I didn’t like walking – it was boring.”
Berhe, 19, is the youngest of the Ottawa Lions contingent headed to the Games. Previously a 1,500 m man, the Ethiopia-born Barrhaven resident has switched his focus to the 3,000 m steeplechase.
“My coach said since I used to play basketball, I’d have the hops to jump over the hurdles,” explains the recent Woodroffe High School grad.
Competing in the Canada Games will be a bit of a symbolic moment for Sikubwabo, the former Lion who now trains out of the University of Guelph with the Speed River club. The Rwanda-raised 20-year-old stayed in Canada as a refugee after the 2010 world junior track-and-field championships, but for years was not able to compete in national championships since he was not a Canadian citizen.
The Games offer a rare opportunity for the standout middle distance runner to test himself against athletes of his age from across the country.