Maryska Kardynal shines with three medals at Western Canada Challenge

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“I think it was to try some different sports because I was just doing indoor with the North Battleford Legion Club. I stopped to try some different sports like volleyball,” she said. 

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“I always continued to do school track. I was like, I have some pretty good success in this. I’d like to get back into it.” 

Kardynal’s 200-metre hurdles gold medal came with very limited experience in the event, and the young athlete thinks she may have found her calling. 

“It was my second time ever doing that event. I’ve never gotten practice for it either…the first time I ever ran the event was Legion camp last week,” she said. 

“I kind of fell in love with 200-metre hurdles. Then I was like, I get to compete in it again at Western. So that was neat.” 

While she did thrive in the event, there was still an adjustment for Kardynal compared to her more familiar race. 

“You approach the hurdle so much differently than an 80-meter hurdle because it’s on a curve and you almost don’t really know where your hurdle is,” she said. 

“I was just so glad because when I talked to girls after, they talked about stuttering before the hurdle, but when I approached it, I had perfect strides that I could get over it and not stutter and not hit the hurdle. I was like, this is working so perfect for me.” 

Her gold medal time was 30.02 seconds. 

Maryska Kardynal (gold, middle) with Annabelle Hutton (silver, left) and Rayne Highway (bronze, right) on the podium for the 200 metre hurdles. (Image Credit: submitted/Maryska Kardynal)

Kardynal’s other gold medal came in the high jump, where she cleared 1.5 metres on her second attempt. 

“One girl, she always beat me and I was just behind her. She ended up not getting over 150. I was like, I just got a gold medal. I just did what I’ve been wanting to do all season. It was finally my time for winning high jump,” she said. 

“Even if I go to nationals, get a new personal best or if I beat that girl again, I’ll be so proud of myself just because that’s what I’ve been kind of working towards.” 

Maryska Kardynal (gold, middle) with Claire Holman (silver, left) and Autumn Hanna (bronze, right) represent Saskatchewan on the high jump podium. (Image Credit: submitted/Maryska Kardynal)

While Kardynal did not win gold in the 80-metre hurdles, she took home the bronze and had a personal best in the preliminary heat, finishing in 12.65 seconds. Her bronze medal time was 13.16 seconds.

Maryska Kardynal (bronze, left) shares the podium with Amira Cantiveros (gold, middle) and Rayne Highway (silver, left) after the 80m hurdle finals. (Image Credit: submitted/Maryska Kardynal)

Next up for Kardynal is the national championships, which are also in Regina

“It’s a nice driving distance for families. So I can have like grandparents watch me and aunties, uncles, cousins and my family’s going to come up and stay and come watch me and they’re super excited. Having it close by is really nice actually.” 

Kardynal continues to train for nationals, where along with going for gold, she looks to achieve new personal bests, soak in the experience and make a name for herself. 

“Just to experience a really big track meet with a team and, I really want to take it all in and then hopefully make a good impression so that for next year, the Legion knows me and they’re like, we are going to want you on the team again. That is kind of a goal to just stay up there with them. That would be pretty awesome.” 

Along with the 80- and 200-metre hurdles and high jump, Kardynal will also be part of a 4×100-metre relay and will run the 200m leg of the medley relay at the National Youth Track and Field Championships in Regina on Aug. 7-9.

— 

Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com