Brute strength pays off

Matthew Johansson won a bronze medal in javelin at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association track and field meet in Calgary May 31. He says he would have been pleased with tenth or eleventh place.

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

Brute strength and natural ability. The two traits earned Matthew Johansson a bronze medal in junior men’s javelin at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association track and field meet in Calgary May 31. Johansson, a Grade 10 student at E.W. Pratt High School, was pleased with his effort saying he achieved far better than expected. “I would have been happy with tenth or eleventh,” he says. The format invited the top two winners in each of Alberta’s eight zones to compete in a qualifying round. In the best of his three tosses, Johansson threw the javelin 43.10 metres to qualify second. The top eight athletes moved onto the finals where each athlete received three more tosses. Johansson’s best toss of 44.15 metres placed him third to win the bronze. “He was only 10 centimetres from second place,” says coach Francis Lessard. Johansson’s feat is remarkable considering Peace Country athletes compete against all other students in Alberta regardless of school size. Coupled with the short training season in the north, Peace athletes face high odds of winning medals. “A lot of it is straight natural ability,” says Lessard. “There is so short a time to practice.” Johansson says he didn’t spend too much time preparing. “I didn’t really work out at all,” he says modestly. Johansson didn’t start throwing the javelin until he was in Grade 7 at Prairie River Junior High School. He holds the Grade 9 school record having set it last season. “We will tend to rely a lot on natural ability,” says Lessard. “He’s a good athlete. He doesn’t know how strong he is.” The competition is fierce because some athletes from cities train year-round indoors. It also means they tend to focus more on one sport whereas students in rural centers usually compete in several sports. Johansson also qualified at provincials in the triple jump but suffered a slight muscle pull on his first jump and withdrew to concentrate on javelin. Johansson, who vows to qualify for provincials against next season, is the son of Vern Johansson and Marilyn Keay of High Prairie.

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