It was the first major international meet of Alexa Dow’s track and field career and it’s safe to say it made a massive impact on the Duncan athlete. Dow competed at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago Aug. 6-10 and it was an experience she won’t soon forget.
“My first experience racing internationally was incredible. I met so many inspiring people,” Dow said this week. “The idea behind the youth games is to give young athletes these big meet experiences so that we can be better prepared when we start competing as adults, and I know I have learned so many skills that will help me in the future. Even just learning to cope with the extreme heat and humidity in Trinidad was a valuable experience.”
The 16-year-old runner began the games as Canada’s flag bearer at the opening ceremonies, an honour by itself. After the opening event, though, it was time to put on her game face.
“The competition at this meet was fierce and I knew to even make it into the finals in my events would be difficult,” she said.
Dow placed fifth overall in the 1500m event after qualifying with a second place finish in her heat.
“I was really happy to come fifth out of 17 girls in the 1500m,” she said. “Looking back on that race there were some things I would do differently in terms of strategy, but I think there will always be those feelings after a race — each one is a learning experience.”
With her longer race already behind her, the track star had her sights squarely set on her second race of the meet, the 800m.
“I knew my 800m heat was going to be fast, I had paid attention to my competitors’ times all season and I knew what I was up against,” Dow said.
With just the top three from each heat automatically qualifying for the finals, she knew she needed to push hard to earn her spot.
“I was in fourth position coming up to the finish line and I had to dig deep with a big surge to pass the Kenyan runner and make it into that third position over the finish line,” she said. “That was a pretty exciting moment.”
Her qualifying time was 2:07.36 — not too far off her personal best of 2:06:94 — but her time didn’t matter as her third place finish was what advanced her to the final.
Dow’s heat was by far the faster of the two preliminary heats. Had she ran in the second preliminary heat, her time was fast enough to have won that heat outright.
The 800m final was raced on Aug. 10 and featured two athletes each from Kenya and England and single runners from Uganda, India, Australia, along with Dow, the lone Canadian.
Dow ultimately ran a 2:09.58 and placed seventh in a speedy race that saw a new Commonwealth Youth Games record of 2:02.30 set by an English runner.
“I didn’t get the result I wanted in my 800m final. I felt great running with the lead girls for most of the race, and I was on pace for a PB, but I got tripped up at 180m to go and just couldn’t recover,” Dow admitted. “The adrenaline of almost falling was enough to zap me in that last stretch to the finish line. I haven’t raced in a tight pack like that very often and the 800m can be a physical race. But, even that moment was a good racing lesson and I’ll respond better next time.”
Dow said she was pleased to race against athletes who push her limits.
“Some of the best distance runners in the world are in the Commonwealth and in both of my races, Commonwealth Youth Games records were broken,” she said. “Competing against athletes who are of such a high calibre really inspires me to train hard, get faster and do it all over again.”
It was an epic experience for Dow and one she’s both grateful for, and looking to experience again.
“I feel so lucky to have had the chance to race four times in that big stadium in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. Getting to know the other Canadian athletes during the 10 days we were there was so much fun and I’ve made great friendships with people from all over the world,” she said. “I’ve been really touched by how many people were watching from home and paying attention to my results. It means a lot.”
