It has been more than 10 years since Brian Risk trained bronze medal Canadian Olympic pole vaulter Alysha Newman, but he hopes he has put a bit of a fingerprint on her successful run in Paris.
Newman has dominated pole vaulting in Canada for a decade, but was competing in the first big Games final she has made since 2019.
The vaulter from Delaware, Ont., would miss her last attempt at 4.90 metres, but her mark of 4.85 was good for a bronze medal and a Canadian record.
It took her three Games, but Newman finally scored her medal.
"This whole year, I’ve been leading up to this moment. It was so funny because I felt like I missed out in Tokyo, missed out in Rio. I just wasn’t at my best, personally, on and off the track." she told the Canadian Press.
"This year I said, I’m going to put it all in one basket. I’m putting all track and field in this basket, and it worked out."
Brian Risk. a varsity coach and lecturer at Nipissing University, worked with Canada's National Track and Field Team for nearly 15 years including a stint as National Team Pole Vault Development Chair.
Risk was thrilled to see her hard work come together at the Olympics.
"As I was watching it here on my computer, I was hooting and hollering, because I can read her expression," Risk told BayToday.
"I can read how she prepares to jump and you can tell she had it all together. So I really congratulate Alysha and her coaches over the last few years."
Risk remembers coaching her when she was still in high school. He looked after some of her sports psychology components which Risk still does with other athletes currently through his website www.mTough.ca
"I just sort of oversaw things from a distance, and her technical coaches were the people who dealt with her day-to-day," said Risk.
"So that was my role through that year. And so it was great for me to work with a talent like this, and it was great for me to work with her other coaches, because you always learn back and forth."
Risk, who also worked with Olympic decathlete Mike Smith in the 1990s, knows Newman has put in the work.
"I think it's wonderful for the country as well to see someone go through a long-term athlete development program," said Risk who also worked with local pole vaulters Trista Bernier and Marcus Popp when they competed for Canada at the Commonwealth Games in 1998.
"It really shows that it works, and there's no shortcuts, and it's a matter of covering all the bases. And she did that masterfully, and she is now a very successful entrepreneur, and I think she's a great role model for young athletes in Canada. And I'm absolutely thrilled. It's nice to see when dreams like this come through."
With Files from the Canadian Press
