Derek Drouin photo by Sean Kilpatrick
Derek Drouin again established himself as a great competitor when the challenges are the toughest when everyone is striving for the gold medal.
Today he captured the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville AK with a new Canadian indoor record of 2.35m. He broke the 13 year old mark of Mark Boswell who set the current record at 2.33m.
Derek took the Olympic bronze medal in London this past summer with a height of 2.29m. The Indiana University senior won NCAA title outdoors in 2010 and indoors in 2011. That same spring he suffered a career ending fracture to his take off foot. He sustained a Lisfranc fracture to his mid foot requiring stabilization by screw fixation. Against all odds, after an 8 month rehabilitation, he returned to his event to win his Olympic medal in 2012.
As if was not sufficient he returned to compete in the indoor pentathlon this indoor season, actually limiting his exposure to his prime event.
Today he improved his best ever jump indoor or outdoor by 2cm. If he jumps this same height outdoor he will tie Mark Boswell’s Canadian outdoor record of 2.35m.
This Corunna, ON athlete is now ranked in an equal 3rd place tie in World indoor rankings with Sergey Mudrov of Russia. Moutaz Essa Barshim Ahmed of Qatar leads the world with 2.37m followed by Aleksey Dmitrik of Russia with 2.36m.
We may see these athletes facing each other at this summer’s World Championships in Moscow.
Surrey, BC athlete Christabel Nettey took a narrow 2nd at the NCAA indoor championships as the Arizona State student jumped 6.55m
Quebec’s Julie Labonte was 3rd in these championships in the shot put with 17.52m for her team, the University of Arizona.