Olympic hopefuls show off at Knights of Columbus indoor games

As competition wrapped up Saturday evening at the Saskatoon Field House, a pair of athletes were shining brighter than the competition.

Mariam Abdul-Rashid, a racer out of Oshawa, Ont., was donning the Canadian race gear as she floated across the finish line to win gold in the Women’s 60-metre invitational race.

While this isn’t Abdul-Rashid’s first time wearing the Canadian gear, she said the feeling of representing her country is one she’ll always love.

“It’s so exciting. I don’t think it’ll ever get old, honestly,” said Abdul-Rashid.

Abdul-Rashid started running at the age of six, which is a couple years younger than most track athletes.

“My first coach, Sharon Woermke, she took me when I was six years old,” said Abdul-Rashid. “She was like, ‘I don’t want to babysit anyone. You’re supposed to start track at eight,’ and she let me do my first practice and decided to take me.”

Growing up, Abdul-Rashid said she had a ton of hurdlers to look up to and model herself after.

“I really looked up to Perdita Felicien, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep … there’s so many,” said Abdul-Rashid. “Because they were from where I was from, I knew that you could get the work done here and you can accomplish your dreams.”

READ MORE:

• Legion track and field camp welcomes nearly 200 athletes
• Nigerian Olympian outrunning competition with U of R Cougars
• Donovan Bailey, former world’s fastest man, running back to Saskatoon

Abdul-Rashid has been able to meet many of the hurdlers that she admired growing up, but one memory sticks out more than the others.

“I had this huge poster of Perdita for so long that my dad dove into a garbage can to get,” said Abdul-Rashid. “Then, years later, I got her to sign it and it was surreal.”

Now, Abdul-Rashid is setting her sights on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but first she has to compete in an Olympic qualifier in Montreal where she hopes to feel the family support from the stands once again.

“The Olympic trials will be just a couple hours away in Montreal,” said Abdul-Rashid.

“I’m going to bring them all down and they’re going to see me make my first team.”

For Usheoritse Itsekiri, a runner born in Nigeria and living in Regina, the Olympics is a milestone that he has already completed.

Itsekiri donned the Nigerian colours at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and he said it was an amazing feeling.

“It was elevating. Having the backing of 200 million Nigerians behind you, it felt really good,” said Itsekiri. “Because once upon a time I was watching people and cheering for them.”

Itsekiri has travelled a long way to train in Regina, and he said the move to the capital made a tremendous amount of sense.

“My uncle lives in Regina, and after the Olympics he said I should come over and join him,” said Itsekiri. “It sounded like a good idea, so I was in school, so it made sense.”

Growing up, Itsekiri had a ton of runners he admired, including the likes of Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt and Ogho-Oghene Egwero.

Egwero was also Itsekiri’s mentor in Nigeria.

“He taught me a lot. I do owe a good part of my career to him,” said Itsekiri. “He did a lot of things for me which I’m grateful for, ’cause I never thought I’d run as fast as him, honestly.

“Watching him growing up, I was like ‘Yo, this boy is fast!’ and all of a sudden one day I was running beside him (and) I was like ‘Damn, this is good.’ It felt good.”

Itsekiri grew up playing soccer in Nigeria, but his friend brought him along to try out for track and field.

“I tried out for the team and I was like, ‘Damn, I beat those boys, and they’ve been training,’” he said with a smile. “After that I found a coach and from there it’s just been a roller coaster.”

Most of Itsekiri’s family is still in Nigeria, but he gets to see them regularly when he goes home for national tryouts.

Itsekiri said he talks to his family members whenever he can, but will never call them before a race.

“I don’t really talk to people before a race,” said Itsekiri. “I’m always zoning in. I kind of just circle myself out in the meet and just tune in and try to get the job done.”

Itsekiri explained he does that because you never know what type of positive or negative energy a person is going to bring.

After a dominant performance at the Knights of Columbus indoor games, Itsekiri also has his eyes on Paris, where he wants to once again represent Nigeria at the Olympics.