A Canadian Olympic hurdler competed on the world stage while suffering from a broken bone.
23-year-old Craig Thorne is competing at his first Olympic Games and recently ran the men’s 110-metre hurdles event where he came 26th in the round-one heats on Sunday and 12th in the repechage round earlier today.
This means that he will not advance to the semi-finals of the event. In an interview with CBC’s Devin Theroux after the repechage race, Thorne revealed that he had been competing with a broken bone in his hand after hitting it on a hurdle before the first round.
🇨🇦 Craig Thorne reveals to me he has been competing with a broken bone in his hand in his Olympic debut.
He hit it on a hurdles a couple of days ahead of competition and battled through it in two races at the Games.
Gritty stuff from the Canadian hurdler from New Brunswick. pic.twitter.com/O8J4iP7Ve7
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) August 6, 2024
The New Brunswick native is one of Canada’s brightest up-and-coming hurdle runners. Thorne won a gold medal at the 2022 Canada Games for the 110-metre hurdles event and set a record time of 13.83 seconds. He beat that record in a meet in Montreal earlier this year with a time of 13.51.
His fastest Olympic time came in the round one heats, as he was able to finish the race in 13.60 seconds. While that isn’t far off his season’s best, it was way off of the fastest runner in round one, America’s Grant Holloway, who put up a time of 13.01 seconds.
A broken bone in the hand may not seem like the most consequential injury for an athlete who mainly relies on his legs and feet, but there is no doubt that it affected his ability. The pain radiating from the hand would be a lot to deal with, and there would be an added focus on making sure not to hit the broken bone on one of the hurdles during the race.
Getting onto the podium might have been a long shot for Thorne in his first taste of Olympic action, but the determination to stay in the competition even with a broken bone may be one of the most Canadian things from the Paris 2024 Games so far.