Storm Zablocki (centre) at the Bob Vigars Classic in London, Ont. (Heather Zablocki/Facebook)

By Rob Mahon

Zablocki Top Athlete

Zablocki sprints his way to Athlete of the Month honour

Jun 13, 2023 | 2:00 PM

It was a banner month of May for Prince Albert’s own Storm Zablocki, and his efforts got him some provincial recognition.

Zablocki was named the Athlete of the Month for the month of May by Sask Sport. It comes after he took part in the Bob Vigars Classic and put himself on the radar for Team Canada.

“It was unexpected,” Zablocki said. “I didn’t actually find out about it until a friend of mine sent me a picture on Instagram. He said, ‘Yeah, you were named Sask’s athlete of the month.’ I said, ‘What? No way!’ It was a good experience, for sure.”

Zablocki did everything in his power to earn this recognition. He tied the previous men’s Canadian Under-20 100-metre record of 10.25 seconds at the event in London, Ontario, and now shares it with Olympian Andre Degrasse. But he’s not resting on his laurels.

“I’m super happy and super grateful, but at the same time the record isn’t broken,” Zablocki said. “I can’t be content with it. I’ve got to keep moving forward.”

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Moving forward means focusing on intense training for Zablocki. With the goal now to shave fractions of a second off his time, he has to get every detail of his performance as close to perfect as he can to keep improving.

“The biggest thing is lots and lots of technical aspects,” Zablocki said. “It’s so much more than lots of other sports. Everything means a matter of seconds. You have your start, and I’m a taller guy and that’s where we’d be able to take more time off. There are lots of aspects I need to improve on being a young athlete.”

It also means moving into a packed summer with events across the country and beyond. His summer schedule continues this week in Calgary, and continues in Edmonton immediately after.

“Going into July it’s looking like nationals in Langley, B.C. this year,” Zablocki said. “Then there are the Pan Am Juniors that are going on in Puerto Rico. That’s kind of the goal for the season is making that Team Canada team for Puerto Rico event.”

Zablocki added the smoke level in many places in the country right now is making outdoor sports harder and he knows of meets in other provinces that have been cancelled, but he’s hoping the weather will cooperate enough for his events to go forward.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP