Not a morning person: Brittany Crew wins Sunday morning’s shot put crown

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“First time I did it, at 10 a.m., I was in tears, because I don’t get up early. He made me get up at 5:30,” Crew said.

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To mimic the competition format, she’d throw three times beginning at 10 a.m., with 10 minute intervals between each throw.

“It’s about getting the body acclimatized, especially if you’re not a morning person, let’s get you used to waking up, getting your clock and your rhythms all ready for that time,” Parkinson said. “By the time that first qualifying practice was over, she was crying. It was awful. She said ‘I hate mornings!’ But I have a graph that shows that it got steadily better the more we did it.”

He did the same to acclimatize throwers Trinity Tutti and Grace Tennant, who are in Finland to compete at the world junior championships.

“I had them drive in from Welland. I said ‘First throw is at 10 a.m.’ I gave them three throws with 10-minute intervals in between, so they’re standing around, having them wait. Because what’s that wait like? And then because the shot put final’s at night, I said ‘See you later!’

“They said ‘What are we going to do for the next six hours?’ ‘I dunno, you tell me. What are you going to do in Finland?”

Crew, Tutti and Tennant are part of a throws powerhouse in the making at Athletics Canada’s East Hub based at York University. Parkinson has about 15 throwers in his group. At the recent Ontario high school (OFSAA) championships, Tutti broke Crew’s Canadian interscholastic shot put record, and broke a 32-year-old interscholastic discus record.  

Crew’s victory was also a rare chance for her mom Kimberley to see her compete in a big meet. Crew’s younger brother Luke is autistic, and so can’t attend meets with big, noisy crowds.

“It’s nice for mom to have a break and come here and just focus on me, because for the past five years it’s been all about him. She’s happy to be able to get away,” Crew said. 

Luke watches Crew’s international meets online.

“If my mom’s watching a live stream, she’ll call him over, ‘Luke, come watch Sissy throw.’”

She hopes her mom can attend the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and might start a GoFundMe page to cover the costs.

Two weeks ago, Crew threw 18.60 metres to break her own Canadian record in her first meet of the summer.  

“I wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “I’m a little bit more confident, I’m way more consistent right now, and I just have to hit that throw, even that 18.60 didn’t feel awesome. I think I’m ready for a jump, and I just don’t know when it’s going to happen, hopefully in Toronto (at the NACAC championships next month).”

Crew’s Canadian-record throw earned her an invitation to the Diamond League circuit. She’ll throw in a Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco on Friday.

Lori Ewing , The Canadian Press