Turner leaps to silver medal at Canada Games

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This article was published 19/08/2022 (1284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Daxx Turner capped off a busy track and field season with some more hardware Friday.

The Neepawa product won a silver medal in the male triple jump event at the 2022 Canada Summer Games in Niagara, Ont. with a leap of 15.47 metres.

“I’m pretty beat from what’s been a long day, but I’m really happy,” said Turner, who finished in a tie for sixth place in the high jump event earlier in the afternoon with a jump of 1.93m.

“It’s a great way to end a very long year. I’m glad that the time was now.”

Turner, who was named the Canada West rookie of the year this spring after a stellar freshman campaign with the Manitoba Bisons, said that he reverted back to his high school days on Friday as he prepared himself for the task of consecutive medal rounds.

“I made sure that I was focused on what I needed to do and not try and think about anything else,” Turner said.

“When I was competing in the high jump, my mind was only on that, and I did the same thing with the triple jump. I didn’t want to overload my head with a bunch of thoughts.”

Turner was ranked third overall going into the final after making a jump of 14.37m in Tuesday’s qualification round.

He bettered that effort on his second attempt Friday with a leap of 14.88m and solidified his silver medal showing on the following jump, but he was unable to catch Ontario’s Femi Akinduro and his winning leap of 16.26m.

“I definitely knew that it (his silver medal jump) was going to be hard to beat,” Turner said. “I felt like I didn’t have to do much work to stay there, but I definitely wanted more.

“I tried my best to move up but it wasn’t my day for the gold … next time though.”

Turner was joined on the podium by Winnipeg’s Robbie Gerstner, as the Western Mustangs track and field team member captured the bronze with a 14.92m jump that just edged out British Columbia’s Lauchlan Irish.

“I was really excited for him,” said Turner, who competed against Gerstner in high school. “He’s put in a lot of work and he’s come a long way from the start of the season.”

Although he didn’t reach the podium in the high jump competition, Turner was pleased with how the day went, as it marked the first time he had surpassed the 1.90m plateau since a 2.03m leap in Los Angeles three months ago.

“To get to 1.93 and then have some pretty good jumps at 1.97 was something that I was really happy about,” Turner said.

“It was the same emotions that I had after the triple jump as it was good to know that my abilities are still there regardless of how I’ve been feeling (as he’s dealt with nagging lower-body injuries) lately. It was a good confidence booster for sure.”

While Turner is ready to have a few weeks off, he’s grateful to have had the chance to compete at the Canada Summer Games.

“It’s a great environment here with all the athletes and the track and field competitions have been at a very high level,” Turner said. “We don’t have a lot of these big events in our country so to be a part of it is something I’m pretty thankful for.”

In other track and field action Friday, Brandon’s Graham Wright finished eighth in the male shot put event with a toss of 13.49m.

He also finished 10th in the hammer throw with a 43.35m attempt.

Brandon’s Andrew Simard finished seventh in the male 400m dash with a time of 43.35 seconds.

He will be competing in the 4x400m relay today.

At the Legends of the Niagara golf course, Dauphin’s Eric Prokopowich shot his second straight round of two-over-par 74 and enters the final day of play in the boys’ event in 15th place.

In the girls’ competition, Killarney’s Cala Korman carded an 82 on Friday and sits in 12th position.

The Manitoba female soccer team — which includes Sydney and Kendra Schram of Brandon — plays British Columbia in a consolation semifinal this afternoon.

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