Hard work pays off in gold

Times Reporter

 

Merely competing in the Paralympics’ Nationals would have been a good way to end the year for Strathmore resident and athlete Cory Johnson. Bringing home two gold medals for his efforts made the season end on an even sweeter note for Johnson, who has cerebral palsy. 

“This is my highest level competition I’ve ever done and to be able to finish to strongly, because I am technically at the end of my running year, to put all the work from the last 14 months into this event and then getting the results I got are pretty awesome,” said Johnson. 

Johnson competed in the 200 metre run on June 28. He ran it in 31.99 seconds, which he said was another personal best for him. 

“It was way too slow, it was almost four seconds away from the Olympic qualifying time so I didn’t come near that standard. On Friday (June 29) I ran the 100 metre and in that one I ran a personal best of 14.88 seconds, .18 away from the Olympic standard,” said Johnson. 

One of the best things for Johnson was having the chance to run against two other people who also have cerebral palsy. Johnson said the other two men were seeded faster and were in a different category than he was. Johnson suffers from cerebral palsy in four limbs and the men he raced have it in two limbs. He beat both of them. 

“For me it was just nice to run against people that were within the same time period, because when I run against able-bodied people they’re always at least two to three seconds faster,” said Johnson. 

Johnson feels it allowed him to actually race and go faster, and he found he really surprised himself. In Alberta Johnson said the only two parathletes are amputees, there isn’t anyone else with cerebral palsy competing. 

Without the help and support of his wife Sandi and stepson Brandon, Johnson isn’t sure he would be able to give his running the focus he has been. For the next month a half he will be relaxing and focusing on family time, while preparing for the new addition to their family due in November. In August Johnson will begin planning his next year. 

“I have a lot of work to do and with a baby in there and all that, it’s going to be really hard but Sandi is very, very supportive and she realizes how important it is to me,” said Johnson.

“The time I want to get is under 14 seconds, somebody just set a new world record in the 100 (metre) and that’s under 12 seconds now. The world record is something that I don’t know if I can attain, but it’s all about every year if I can shave a second off or half a second off my time then I’m progressing in the right (way) and as soon as I start getting slower then it’s time to pack it up and retire.”

In September 2013 he will be representing Canada at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships.