Canadian sprinter Almond Small didn't expect to be at this point.
It wasn't until he was in Grade 12 at Toronto's Northern Secondary School that he thought he could go somewhere in track and field. He had stopped competing entirely earlier in high school.
After wrapping up his junior college career at Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kan., in May, Small is headed to the powerhouse Texas Longhorns in January.
The 20-year-old Toronto native is currently set to compete at the under-23 NACAC championships — which goes from Friday to Sunday in San Jose, Costa Rica — followed by a trip to the Canadian track and field championships in Langley, B.C., from July 27-30.
"I never really thought about track after (high school)," Small said. "I wasn't really serious about it, I was going through a little bit of my own personal issues and stuff so I wasn't really dedicated.
"Honestly, I never expected any of it, anything that's happened right now. Coming out of high school, I didn't have good grades, I wasn't that fast. I went to JUCO (junior college) and it taught me a lot, my coaches over there taught me a lot.
"After my first season at JUCO, I guess I shocked a couple of (NCAA Division I) coaches, I had like over 15 coaches calling me to try to get me to tour their school … Texas was always the dream school but I never expected to really fulfil that dream."
Before he gets there, though, he has business to handle in order to vault himself closer to his aspirations.
The all-American 200-metre sprinter is no longer a junior. The reigning U20 national champion in both the 100 and 200 — and the Canadian U20 record holder in the 200 at 20.50 seconds — faces the challenge of going up against the top athletes at the U23 level and then some of Canada's biggest stars on the senior level at nationals.
While understanding the test in front of him, his goals are as high as his level of self-confidence and belief.
"The main goal, next year I'm trying to make the Olympic team," Small said. "I've done a lot in the sport the last two years and I still feel I'm unnoticed a lot.
"I feel like going to Texas and then getting ready for the Olympic trials is going to be really big. I'm locked in already … I'll be 21 years old so that's the big plan to go all the way."
Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert feels Small could get there in the future.
"It's clear that the kid has talent, he's a talented young man. That's very obvious," Gilbert said. "In sprinting, a lot of it is longevity and the ability to move from — he's now U23 age, the national team, worlds and Olympic Games, that type of stuff, which it looks like he's trending that way quite well."
Gilbert says determining a young sprinter's potential is in how they compete.
"It'll be interesting to see how he does at NACAC up against the Caribbean, North American athletes of his age (group)," Gilbert said. "The championships there will be, I think, telling, but in a way it just gives him an idea as to where he is.
"If you can compete strongly against some of these countries, it bodes well as you move up the ranks into the national side of the sport, you know, for worlds and Olympics. But he's not far off from that."
The confidence, Small says, comes from life experiences from a young age and the elders around him.
"A lot of people call me cocky because of how I carry myself but they don't know why I carry myself like that," he said. "It's not about being cocky, I'm just very self-confident because I know what I'm capable of doing.
"The way my mom raised me, I was always independent," he added. "My mom was sick for a long time, from when I was 13 years old, so I had to make sure I was always ready to go for myself. I built that (confidence) over time."
His late mother, who died two years ago, serves as one his greatest motivations.
"After she passed away, it kind of a put a stop in my life," Small said. "She was one of my main motivations when it came to track and field.
"That's the main person that I do it for, that's why I go so hard for the sport.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2023.
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
