Fresh off a 200m national championship win, Kelowna’s Jerome Blake paid a visit to his old stomping grounds last week.
“This is home, man,” said the 4x100m relay Olympic gold medalist and world champion.
“I spend a lot of time here. And for me, regardless, whenever I'm in Kelowna, I'm always at the Apple Bowl.”
The Kelowna sprinter is having a season to remember after posting his first sub-10-second 100m race this past June and now, his first sub-20-second 200m race at nationals.
Blake’s time of 19.95 seconds set a personal and national championship record, and it came after he had been disqualified from the 100m race because of a false start.
“I mean, something like that happens, you don't really dwell on it. You got people in your corner who really help you to alleviate the pressure and take away whatever disappointments you're feeling in that moment,” said Blake
“And for me, it was more or less I knew what I had to do was just refocus and come back for something that I know I'm good at, the 200 metres.”
The win marked the first time Blake had reached the top of the podium in an individual race at the national championships, finally getting over the hump.
“In a sense, yes, but I feel like it's one of those things where I knew it was a matter of time before I became that guy who started winning national championships and started doing my thing,” Blake said when asked if it felt like he had just gotten over a hump.
“So it felt really good. It was a special moment for me and for all my friends that (were) there and my family, (who were) there supporting.”
Blake is now the fourth Canadian to run 200 metres in less than 20 seconds, and he credits his mental training with helping him get to this point in his career.
“It's a mental focus…all the mental training I've done with my sports psychologist, my coach in general…having a good system that really breeds, they push confidence into you in a different way,” he explained.
“The confidence you really need to be a sprinter. It's not a bravado type of confidence, but it's a for-sure confidence. You're sure that the work you've done is enough and it's sufficient. So whenever you go out on the track, whatever you do, you're gonna run fast.”
With the national championships now in the rearview mirror, Blake is turning his focus towards the world championships in Tokyo next month.
“The focus is still the same, just go out there whenever it comes time to represent Canada, and put my best foot forward,” the sprinter said.
“And yeah, just do everything I need to do to make sure I'm gonna represent my country at the best at the highest level.”
Blake is no stranger to the world championships, having run the 100 and 200 metre events in 2022, and will use his past experiences in pursuit of a spot on the podium at this year’s event.
“This is an opportunity for me to go out there and make something, in a sense, make something shake, as we would say," he added.
“This is the time to do that.”
Alongside those in the stands cheering on Blake will be one of his coaches, Pat Sima-Ledding, the Okanagan Athletics Club (OAC) head coach.
“I think the biggest feeling I had was just relief, because we knew it's there, It's been there for a while, and it's nice to actually see it be actualized," Sima-Ledding said on what it meant to see Blake win a national title.
The Tokyo World Athletics Championships begin Sept. 13, and the Kelowna sprinter will have an army of support back home
“I'm so, so happy for Jerome,” Sima-Ledding added.
“It's like I said, it's been a long time coming, and it's really, it's amazing to get to see his story and his journey and for him to have come this far, and knowing that this is far from the end.”
