Rachel Francois is picking up the pace to represent Canada at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Her 2:02.18 personal best in the 800 metres is within striking distance of the Summer Games.
“I want to try and break the two-minute barrier. Yeah, it’s a big one but I think that is what I need to run to make the Olympics,” said Francois after running away with her fourth consecutive 600m CIS championship for the Victoria Vikes last weekend in Windsor, Ont.
The four-time CIS All-Canadian has a year of eligibility remaining but will devote the next season in pursuit of qualifying for Rio at next year’s senior nationals.
“There was never any question what I had to do. It’s hard in terms of putting my whole life on hold but it felt like exactly what I needed to do,” said the former three-time 800m provincial high school champion with the Paul Kane Blues. “I’m very excited. I don’t like the idea of spreading myself thin at this time of my life so I want to put all my eggs in one basket and see what I can do and give it the best shot that I can.”
Francois, 22, is ranked nationally in the bottom half of the top-10 in the 800m in what she described as “the deepest event in Canada.”
“Everybody is within a couple of seconds of each other. It’s really nice because it pushes us. It’s going to be a very competitive go for Rio but it’s nice to be a part of this group,” said the sixth-place finisher at the 2012 Olympic trials who was one spot away from making last year’s final at nationals.
Francois is headed in the right direction after her personal best in the American Track League series meet last May in San Marcos, Texas.
“It opened up so many doors. I was so happy,” she said of the fourth-place 800m result. “I didn’t know any splits in the entire race and when I crossed the line I didn’t know what I had ran. I just knew it felt really, really good and about half an hour later the times were put up and I saw I got a personal best by over a second so I was ecstatic.”
Francois didn’t miss a stride this season while working toward her ultimate goal.
“It’s like a new focus for myself. I feel like I’m kind of learning the ropes of what it takes to be the best athlete that I can be,” said the 2015 Canada West female track athlete of the year. “This year has been a learning curve but I’m getting more into knowing what I need to do to get to where I want to be.”
The four-time Canada West first-team all-star trained as if she were competing in the 800m.
“It was a lot more different this year. It was more of a distance based approach and I ended up running 1,000 metre races and not as much 600s as I usually do. My training felt as if I was ready to do 800s and I was ready to do (1,000m) so doing a 600 kind of felt a little bit foreign, which is different for me too since that is what I always run but I feel way stronger. The times on paper don’t look as good but I know the way I’ve been feeling in races I feel like a different athlete this year,” said this year’s Canada West winner in the 600m at 1:30.17 and the 1,000m at 2:45.32.
Francois also anchored the Vikes’ first-place 4x800 relay team to a new Canada West record of 8:46.91 and the 4x400 team to third place at 3:53.65.
Her Canada West medal total of 13 includes eight gold.
At the CIS championships, Francois was awarded her sixth gold after winning the 600m at 1:29.17. She beat out Sasha Gollish of the Toronto Varsity Blues, the CIS female athlete of the year who was clocked at 1:29.71.
“(Gollish) had already won three golds the day before so there was a lot of pressure just with the stigma of having her in the race,” said the 2012 CIS female rookie of the year. “I knew she wouldn’t go down without a fight and I could hear her the whole way behind me.”
Last year Francois made it three 600m titles in a row with a personal best of 1:28.40 at the CIS championships in Edmonton but to make it four straight was extra special for the 2015 CIS female athlete of the year finalist.
“It’s my favourite distance. It’s also nice to see some consistency if anything. Each year has been so different as how the race went out so it’s nice to show that I can handle. I kind of put a lot of pressure on myself, I guess, so it’s nice to do it under that pressure,” said Francois, who is majoring in history with a journalism minor.
She also ran the final leg for the Vikes’ second-place relay teams in the 4x800 at 8:42.30 and 4x400 at 3:49.31 and the results increased her CIS medal haul to 11 in four years.
FAST TRACKS: Paul Kane alumni Niki Oudenaarden and Garret King of the Calgary Dinos also medalled at the CIS championships.
Oudenaarden, the Canada West female field athlete of the year, won the women’s pentathlon with 4,072 points and placed third in shot put at 14.01m. At the Canada West championships she was the pentathlon winner with 3,981 points and the runner-up in the shot put at 12.95m.
King finished third in the 600m at 1:18.56 as the Canada west champion in the event at 1:19.99.
More information on Oudenaarden and King will appear in Saturday’s edition of the Gazette.
