Former Olds High School student Andreas Troschke, now a student at the University of Lethbridge, won bronze in weight throwing during the USports' National Indoor Track & Field Championship.
Troschke threw a personal best at the event March 8 in Winnipeg.
His bronze medal-winning distance of 18.08 metres was only one centimetre off the silver-medal-winning distance of 18.09 metres.
Troschke said that his results were in line with what he was expecting going into the event.
“I was hoping to get over 18 (metres) and definitely wanted to win a medal,” said Troschke. “I definitely thought I could throw anywhere between 18 and 18-and-a-half and hope that that would be good enough for somewhere on the podium.”
Troschke admitted that it was a bit frustrating to have been so close to winning silver but that didn’t come until the event ended.
“It was probably more frustrating after the event because I know Mark (Bujnowski), who’s the guy who beat me out and we’re really friendly with each other.
“I was really happy for him more than I was disappointed with myself. Then afterwards I had the time to collect my thoughts and realized just how close that was.
“I felt a little down for a bit but I won a medal and I did my absolute best so I’m not too upset by it,” Troschke said.
Troschke had a back injury early on in the indoor season and had spent a lot of the season rebuilding his strength.
“I really had to work my way back up into lifting again, which took a really long time, probably about two months before I was lifting properly again.
“Then just a number of tiny but eventually significant things made it really hard for me to trust myself, because I went into most meets this year worried that I would foul out of the competitions.
“It took me until my last meet but I’m happy that I figured it out in the end,” he said.
