'The time was crap': Paralympic champion Nate Riech falls short of world record, sets forth to Paris

The stakes were evident and plain to see. As Nate Riech lined up to try to break his men's T38 1,500 metre world record at Alumni Stadium in Guelph, Ont., on Tuesday, the PA announcer introduced each of the athletes by name.

Then it was Riech's turn.

"The Paralympic gold medallist and two-time world champion…"

Riech, the 29-year-old from Victoria, embraced all that pressure, even creating some of it himself. He wanted to simulate the feeling of racing in the Paralympic final.

On this day, he was jammed from the start. Riech lingered toward the back of the pack of able-bodied racers as the announcer continued to let the crowd know how his time was tracking.

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After 400 metres, the announced pace was 60 seconds. After 800, it was 61.

After 1,500, Riech was never quite able to move to the front. He stopped the clock at three minutes 57.89 seconds, exactly 10 seconds shy of the world record he set in 2021.

"The time was crap. But honestly, it's not a copout. I could give you every excuse in the book, but every excuse I could refute. … So I just didn't have it," Riech said.

Heather Hennigar, Athletics Canada's West Hub lead and Riech's personal coach, said she was pleased with the race despite the time.

"I thought he fought tough today, and I think things started to feel pretty hard at one point and sometimes the wheels can come off with him, and they didn't," Hennigar said.

Riech had circled the Guelph meet on the calendar to attack the record once again as one of his biggest preparation competitions for Paris, and he made his world-record intentions well-known.

But he also said he clocked 4:10 two weeks ago.

"It's a mixed bag I'd say. On one hand I'm happy I got under 4, I'm happy I'm making my way back down there, but I don't like to say stuff and not back it up. That sucks. That doesn't feel good," he said.