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Former Metro Edmonton Athlete Competing at the Olympics
2016-08-01
Canadian Athletics Contingent for Rio
Best of luck to Edmonton's Kendra Clarke! Click to read more about her journey to the Olympics.
Kendra will represent Canada at the Rio Olympics at 19 years of age. She will be competing in the 400m & 4x400m relay.
Kendra competed in Edmonton Metro Track & Field winning gold at Provincials in the 400m & 800m and setting Provincial records in the 400m. She graduated from Holy Trinity High School in 2014.
She officially started doing track and field with Dwight Francis at the age of 16 and made her first international team (World Youth Championships) in Ukraine. Kendra said that Track was the only sport she was good at (main event 400m) and in her first year training with Dwight she went from 1 minute to 54 seconds. She made the World Junior Championships in 2014 for the 4x400m Relay Team and helped break the Canadian Junior record for the 4x400m Relay
Kendra received a Track and Field scholarship to Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, training with Coach Lennox Graham. In 2015, following her first semester of University (redshirted and started in January) she achieved a PB of 52.55, running and winning the 400m at the Pan American Junior Games held in Edmonton, AB. She returned to Johnson C. Smith University in the fall and was a freshmen in eligibility but a sophomore for academics. She had ups and downs dealing with an Achilles injury, keeping up her GPA, and overall staying healthy. Kendra received excellent treatment, the proper rest she required and was feeling better than ever and refusing to peak.
When Kendra won the Pan Am Juniors she remembers saying "Anything can happen in the next 4 years, so why not go for the 2016 Olympics now. However, once I achieved that goal, it was still hard to believe I did it. I'm truly grateful for all the support I get, coaches, mom, family, friends, Holy Trinity alumni, and my University (JCSU). Making the Olympics will be a great experience for me. I will cherish every moment, go out there and do my best. Anything is possible if you do these 3 steps: Imagine it, believe it, then do it!!”
Good luck Kendra!
Kendra competed in Edmonton Metro Track & Field winning gold at Provincials in the 400m & 800m and setting Provincial records in the 400m. She graduated from Holy Trinity High School in 2014.
She officially started doing track and field with Dwight Francis at the age of 16 and made her first international team (World Youth Championships) in Ukraine. Kendra said that Track was the only sport she was good at (main event 400m) and in her first year training with Dwight she went from 1 minute to 54 seconds. She made the World Junior Championships in 2014 for the 4x400m Relay Team and helped break the Canadian Junior record for the 4x400m Relay
Kendra received a Track and Field scholarship to Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, training with Coach Lennox Graham. In 2015, following her first semester of University (redshirted and started in January) she achieved a PB of 52.55, running and winning the 400m at the Pan American Junior Games held in Edmonton, AB. She returned to Johnson C. Smith University in the fall and was a freshmen in eligibility but a sophomore for academics. She had ups and downs dealing with an Achilles injury, keeping up her GPA, and overall staying healthy. Kendra received excellent treatment, the proper rest she required and was feeling better than ever and refusing to peak.
When Kendra won the Pan Am Juniors she remembers saying "Anything can happen in the next 4 years, so why not go for the 2016 Olympics now. However, once I achieved that goal, it was still hard to believe I did it. I'm truly grateful for all the support I get, coaches, mom, family, friends, Holy Trinity alumni, and my University (JCSU). Making the Olympics will be a great experience for me. I will cherish every moment, go out there and do my best. Anything is possible if you do these 3 steps: Imagine it, believe it, then do it!!”
Good luck Kendra!