By Brendan McConnell
It’s been a whirlwind summer for Samantha Klus since finishing her studies at Bell High School. The Bytown Storm triathlete has traveled across the country, and the hemisphere, for national and international races.
The most recent one was in Toronto for the Canadian junior championships where she won a somewhat unexpected silver medal.
After beginning the season with a stress fracture that hurt her ability to run, Klus reached her stride in time for the July 21 race, tallying her best performance at a national competition. It also places her in a comfortable position to eye a medal at her next big competition, the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke.
“It’s an awesome feeling being on the podium at a national race,” says Klus, who placed 19th at the Pan American junior championships in Brazil in late June. “It was a lot of hard work to get here so it paid off.”
With her sprint triathlon time of 1:02:43 at the nationals in Toronto, Klus proved that she is a young up-and-comer to be reckoned with in the Canadian triathlon world.
She’ll almost certainly be selected to race for Canada at the Sept. 12 junior world championships in London, UK, which would be a second consecutive appearance following her 37th-place finish in 2012. Klus would still be eligible for a third junior worlds next season as well.
Storm coach Greg Kealey, also the provincial Canada Games coach, says Klus’ strength and athletic maturity is a major asset.
“Samantha is definitely one we’re relying on in a number of areas to keep us in the running” for some Canada Games hardware, Kealey indicates.
After beginning her sporting career as a competitive soccer player for the Kanata and Goulbourn associations and later the Ottawa Fury, Klus has steadily risen through the triathlon ranks over the course of her six-year career.
“Sam is definitely one of the strongest female athletes I’ve ever worked with,” Kealey says. “Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, which is really important in this sport.”
Coming from a soccer background instead of either swimming, cycling or running has proven to be an asset since Klus focuses her energy equally on each discipline.
After six years of training and some injury setbacks along the way, Kealey says a multi-sport event like the Canada Summer Games – where participants can meet athletes from across the country – is a nice culmination of all the hard work.
And, for Klus, her silver at nationals and a chance at a Games medal is a nice accent mark on her dedication to the sport.
“I’ve been around here for a while,” she says, “but I’m loving every minute of it.”