Bittersweet national decathlon championship for Kelowna's Turner brothers

Rostam Turner vaulted himself to the top of the mountain among Canadian decathletes on a bittersweet weekend in Ottawa.

Turner scored a personal-best 7,565 total points and notched five PBs – 6.85 metres in long jump, 1.91m in high jump (a six cm increase), 49.26 seconds in the 400m, 4:27.43 in the 1,500m (better by10 seconds) and 4.55 m in pole vault (better by five cm) – en route to the Canadian championship at the Pan American Combined Events Cup.

While Turner’s win was both a cause for celebration and a huge personal step forward, his older brother James Turner didn’t finish so favorably. During the 400-metre run on Day 1, the elder Turner – who was jockeying to meet the Olympic standard of 8,100 points and qualify for Rio — went down with a hamstring injury, and didn’t return to action for the remainder of the weekend.

The ailment came out of nowhere for James, the No. 2-ranked decathlete in Canada who had felt primed for success prior to his misfortune.

“I was feeling phenomenal going into this meet,” said James, who set a personal-best point total of 7,776 at the Mt. Sac Relays in Azusa, Calif. recently. “There were no signs of hamstring issues. My first three events went well, and I was extremely excited going into the 400.

“I had been having some unreal speed endurance practices and had a good warm-up. I got out of the blocks and felt a cramp in my hamstring. I took a couple more steps before I shut it down and ended up straining it slightly. It was tough for me—not a good situation. I’m just hoping it’s not too bad and that I can get another decathlon in before the qualifying window closes.”

The gravity of impact upon his brother’s Olympic bid was not lost on Rostam, who was more focused on his brother’s success at the event than his own.

“That meet was about James—I was there to support him,” said the third-year University of Toronto student-athlete. “We were pushing him, trying to get him to meet the Olympic standard. I was in lane one and he was in lane two in that race. My strategy was just to try to stay with James as long as I could and finish strong. When I saw him pull up holding his hand and go down, I knew it was bad. It was really tough.”

Meanwhile, Rostam, now ranked No. 3 in Canada, said he was “a little surprised” at himself and his performance on the weekend.

“I wasn’t expecting to be national champion. It just all came together. I think the biggest thing for me is that I was healthy all year. I battled a lot of injuries a couple of years ago and hadn’t really been on the map because of them. Staying healthy allowed me to get my workouts in and keep my mind focused. I’m happy that I’ve performed to a standard that I’ve been trying to get to for a while.”

As for James, the biggest question he now faces is not necessarily whether he’ll have another chance at the Olympic standard, but whether he’ll be healthy in time to take another shot at it before the July 10 qualification deadline. If he is, the Codiac Achilles Open Twilight in Moncton, NB on July 6 will be his final crack at an Olympic appearance this quadrennial.

“I think I have enough time to recover,” James said. “It depends on how long it takes me to get back to full training. I blew out my hamstring a lot worse three years ago and it took me 20 days to get back to full speed from that. I’m hoping it’s half that time for this one because it’s definitely not as bad as it was back then.”

While James looks ahead to New Brunswick, his 21-year-old brother’s next challenges are the Jack Brow Memorial Track and Field Meet in Kelowna July 1-3, followed by the senior Nationals in Edmonton July 7-10, and the U23 North America Central America Championships (NACAC) in El Salvador on July 14-19.