Seven Person's Sage Watson is set to contend for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics (Photo courtesy of Sage Watson / Facebook)

By Scott Roblin

Second Olympics

Sage Watson locked in on podium goal ahead of Tokyo Olympics

Jul 22, 2021 | 4:31 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB – The wait is finally over for Sage Watson.

After the crushing disappointment of seeing last year’s Tokyo Olympics postponed as a result of the pandemic, the local hurdler is eyeing gold in 2021.

“It’s all finally becoming very real,” said Watson. “After a year of being delayed and all the preparation it took to get to this point, it’s exciting that it’s in sight now.”

Watson is arriving this week in Tokyo to experience her second Olympic Games, one that will look far different from her first.

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When COVID-19 shut down her training last spring, Watson elected to leave her home base of Tuscon, Arizona to return home to her family’s ranch near Seven Persons.

She was able to spend four months together with her parents Wade and Jolene, along with her younger brother Waylan which was a bright spot for the Watsons.

“That was the best year I can remember for us because we were all together,” said Wade. “Sage has been gone from home for eight years now and for her to come home and spend months with us was a real blessing.”

Watson was able to assemble a home gym in her family’s shop on the ranch and began sprinting down the gravel road where she discovered her love of running as a kid.

“It was really an amazing thing and it made me feel so grounded, and really connected me to my roots and where I started running,” said Watson. “I’ve kind of taken that connection of where I started, where I came from into this year in preparing for Tokyo.”

Watson first discovered the sport when she climbed on the back of her father’s motorcycle and competed at a Southern Alberta Summer Games in Cardston, with her father later joking she wasn’t pleased about having to bathe in the river afterwards.

From there she evolved as one of Alberta’s top junior runners, later being recruited by Scott Howes and Glen Mori to join up with Medicine Hat High School’s track and field team.

Watson’s combination of speed and endurance set provincial records and has proven that Olympic talent can come from the most unlikely of places.

“A lot of them come from major city centres with lots of doctors and massage therapists, and Sage has come from the Seven Persons-Medicine Hat area,” said Mori. “It just speaks volumes towards her family and how she was raised, and the support she has been given by the community.”

Her path to the Olympic Games hasn’t always been easy however, transferring from Florida State University to the University of Arizona in 2015 when her coach Ken Harden was let go.

Transferring to complete new program across the United States, Watson geared up to compete in her first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Watson finished just short of the finals in the women’s 400 metre hurdles, but helped Canada’s 4×400 metre relay team to a fourth place finish.

“This time I definitely know what to do, I know what to expect, I know how to prepare, I know what it takes to make the final and I know what it takes to get a medal,” said Watson.

While she didn’t medal, that time in Brazil was special not only to Sage but the entire Watson family who ventured to South America to watch the then 22 year old compete.

“We were staying way outside of Rio at a little fishing village,” said Wade. “Sage got in an Uber and I think it was four hours to be with us to celebrate my birthday from the Olympic Village. So, those moments I’ll never forget.”

Unlike her experience in 2016 however, Watson will be settling into the starting blocks in Tokyo without her family in attendance.

“This time I definitely know what to do, I know what to expect, I know how to prepare, I know what it takes to make the final and I know what it takes to get a medal,” said Watson.

Earlier this year, it was announced that no foreign spectators would be allowed to watch the Olympics in-person due to rising cases of COVID-19, something that’s been extended to Japan’s population as well.

“She knows that we’re wishing the best for her and she has a big support group, but it’s different when you’re there,” said Jolene. “It’s going to be tough on us and probably tough on her.”

When it comes to competing in an empty stadium in Tokyo, the lack of a crowd isn’t something Watson is too concerned about. But, admitted it will be difficult knowing her family will have to watch from a world away.

“It’s been definitely sad knowing that my family can’t come support me in Tokyo,” said Watson. “That’s been really tough and I know a lot of Olympians feel the same way, my coach can’t even come with me to the Olympics.”

That coach, University of Arizona track and field director Fred Harvey, helped Watson capture an NCAA championship in the 400 metre hurdles in 2017.

Being unable to travel with Watson to Japan has put a greater emphasis on this training period ahead of the Olympics for the pair, as Watson prepares to venture to Tokyo alone.

“At hurdle time you’re trying to get her to decrease her air time going over each of the barriers,” said Harvey. “That part, and staying as mentally focused as humanly possible.”

This will undoubtedly be Watson’s greatest test of her career yet, with five competitors in the 400 metre hurdles breaking the 53-second mark over the past year. That includes American Sydney McLaughlin, who just broke the world record with a time of 51.90 at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month.

A mark that Watson has yet to replicate.

“I’ll definitely have to run a personal best if I want to do that,” said Watson. “I feel like I’m capable of doing that, but the 400 [metre] hurdles is the most competitive, difficult field it’s ever been.”

If her Pan-Am Games gold medal is any indication however, the world’s 11^th ranked female hurdler has a realistic shot at standing on top of the podium in Japan.

“This has been a journey, my running career, in the past few years,” said Watson. “So, to have that gold medal around my neck would just mean the whole, entire world. I’m really racing for all the people who have supported me over the years. My coaches, my family, the community, my country, that’s why I’m stepping on the track and racing.”

Watson’s first official day of competition will come with her first heats in the women’s 400 metre hurdles on July 31, while she’s aiming to make the finals on August 4.