Simone Plourde of Montreal is nearing her Olympic debut and is stepping up her final training sessions at stunning St. Moritz in Switzerland.
She exclaims, “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.” The 24-year-old middle-distance runner, who will make history on August 6th as the first Quebec woman to represent Canada in the women’s 1,500m at the Olympic Games, has a lot of firsts ahead of her this next month.
Plourde switched from cross-country skiing to track and field in 2017 and gained notoriety quickly, even though she had not planned to compete in the Olympics. She transferred to the University of Utah after receiving a scholarship at Brigham Young University as a gifted skier who became a track star.
With notable accomplishments like her 1,500-metre victory at the PAC-12 Championships and her seventh-place showing at the 2023 NCAA Championships, her brief but significant stay in Utah had an impact. Due to the attention these accomplishments received from several professional training groups, she joined Nike’s Union Athletics Club in Oregon, where Pete Julian is currently her trainer.
Plourde’s unexpected Olympic journey: Dreams of Paris from track success
Plourde’s outstanding track performance secured her a place on the Canadian national squad for the Glasgow 2024 World Indoor Championships and the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships. She intends to use these priceless experiences to her advantage when she performs in Paris, hoping to give her best performance yet.
Plorude stated; “I never imagined myself in this role.” She added “I would never have believed it even if you had told me when I went professional last year.”
Even though Plourde didn’t reach the 4:02.50 automatic qualifying standard for women, her strong third-place result at the Bell Canadian Track and Field Trials in Montreal allowed her to win her position through World Athletics points. “I was in the kitchen with my dad and boyfriend, and they couldn’t believe it,” Plourde recalled. “Seeing it on paper was a surreal moment.”