Tracking down triple jump Canadian record anything but a three-step process for Caroline Ehrhardt

Caroline Ehrhardt has never trained less or accomplished more as a triple jumper, and the dichotomy boggles her mind.

“I kid you not, I train three days a week,” she said Tuesday. “Even saying it out loud it feels outrageous, but I’m the healthiest I have ever been in my life and going into these meets I can absolutely sell out down the runway because I have zero hesitation in my body. I’m just fresh all the time. I don’t do anything.”

She laughs, because this new truth is stranger still given the role it played in taking down a unicorn Ehrhardt stalked for 18 years. On Sunday in London, Ont., at age 31, she became the Canadian women’s record holder with a leap of 14.03 metres, besting the previous mark of 14.02m, set by Tabia Charles in 2007.

“It’s so weird when you think how small a centimetre is and how differently this could have gone if I didn’t have that centimetre,” Ehrhardt said. “That’s what makes me feel even more that it was fate or some kind of greater thing going on, because that’s just insane.”

Ehrhardt has barely slept since and surely hasn’t digested the full impact of the best jump of her life. But she knows it wasn’t technically perfect and she might have 30 more centimetres in her. And that has led to a rather serious declaration of intent.

The 2024 Olympics in Paris loom. They would be her first and last Games. Though she is the length of a back-scratcher or shoehorn away from the automatic qualifying distance of 14.55m, perhaps less than a dozen women on the planet will hit that mark and the field in Paris will nevertheless be 32 deep.

Ehrhardt could gain entry by virtue of her standing in the world rankings, which is currently 37th. If she breaks the 14-metre barrier a few more times this summer, she might move up far enough to have a shot. She is certainly willing to find out.

“I actually thought that maybe this year would be my last year,” she said. “And I was OK with never qualifying for the Olympics. I just thought if I could get this record and I could get this 14-metre jump, I could live a happy life, I could move on, and not try to strive for something that once again feels very much out of my control.

“But I think I deserve a full season now of jumping like the athlete that I now know that I am, and seeing myself with these girls. There is still a lot of season in front of me, but I want the full year — training in the fall and the indoor season — I want that experience. I think I owe that to myself.”

Mastering the triple jump has been anything but a three-step process for Ehrhardt, who grew up in Espanola, Ont., a pulp mill town of about 5,000. She was a successful high-schooler, still holds the U SPORTS and Ontario University Athletics records and is a nine-time national champ. But there was always something bigger just out of reach. She missed out on Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and that Canadian record refused to fall for the longest time.

“It’s funny, well, it’s not funny, it was very frustrating that it has taken this long, but at the same time, everyone’s journey is different, everyone’s trajectory is different. I truly think I needed all the years and experiences that came before this to be the me that was required to be able to do it.

“I’m very resilient and gritty and scrappy. I’m at a point where it was almost inevitable. I’ve been through too much, I’ve learned too much from this sport for it not to happen. I just needed to see it through.”

She needed to exhibit the patience and perseverance she preaches to student-athletes at the University of Western Ontario, where she is a volunteer coach.

“As an athlete I can speak to it, because I spent many years where my coaches just kept saying the dreaded P word, be patient, be patient, be patient. It’s so frustrating. And I know for sure I have definitely frustrated some people by harping on that important aspect of sport and life. … You have to stay the course, you have to wait it out because if you give up, you might be giving up right before the hard work will manifest itself in the result you want.”

It was easier than ever for Ehrhardt to keep going this season because the abbreviated training schedule kept her fresh mentally and physically, and she thanks her coach Vickie Croley for that game-changing brainstorm. She will also apply it to her meet schedule for the rest of the year. She will compete in Guelph and Windsor in June, at the Athletics Ontario and Canadian Championships in July, and might pick her spots in between.

“There’s a few twilight meets throughout the next few months that I can pick and choose,” Ehrhardt said. “But I think another kind of weird thing we have learned is that when it comes to competing, less is definitely more.”

dbarnes@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes

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