Natalia Hawthorn - Straining & Striving to Tokyo

Natalia Hawthorn - 1500m & 5000m

Throughout her university career, Natalia struggled to stay healthy for more than a few months at a time.

There were long stretches where she seemed to be injured far more often than she wasn’t.

It is pretty standard for athletes in these situations to eventually give up and drop out of the sport.

However Natalia always remained irrationally optimistic, resilient, and passionate about running.

Her attitude & discipline, combined with her coach CJ's ingenuity, eventually enabled her to find a training routine that could keep her healthy long enough to make steady improvements.

After graduating from UBC, her passion for all things running got her a job as a sales rep with Brooks Canada.

Unfortunately this was incredibly disruptive to her training routine (and therefore performance progression) as she was constantly travelling across western Canada making sales calls.

At the time, she wasn't running fast enough to earn anywhere near enough income from racing to justify quitting her job. There also wouldn't be any guarantees that a more training-friendly lifestyle would enable her to improve to the 'next level.'

Nevertheless, she courageously walked away from her position at Brooks to work part-time as a barista and focus more on training.

When the pandemic hit, she lost that income too.

She had a strong start to the 2021 season, and within a few races she bravely set out at Olympic standard pace in the 5000m. She wound up being the 3rd Canadian under the auto-standard at that point.

But within a week, two other Canadians bettered her time and bumped her down to 5th spot (only 3 can go).

Undeterred, Natalia literally and figuratively changed gears and began chasing auto-standard in the 1500m.

Given quarantine restrictions at the time, some difficult strategic decisions had to be made regarding where to race.

She chose to remain in the US, and after a few more races she bravely broke off from the rest of the field at a risky pace and hit the 1500m standard on the nose: 4:04.20 exactly.

Once again, she had to make a courageous decision to stay in the US, avoid the quarantine and focus on training, meanwhile her competitors had several more opportunities lined up to better her time north of the border.

In the end, her bravery and dedication landed her a spot on the Tokyo Olympic team in the 1500m.

Thank you Natalia for sharing with us your optimism, courage and contagious passion for our sport.

Natalia has made exceptional progress this year. She committed to a demanding training schedule but she also consistently prioritized her health and paid close attention to recovery and regeneration. Hard work is important but it has to be sustainable. She genuinely loves to run but she also loves to race. This was on display many times this season as she chased Olympic standards with great confidence and enthusiasm. Most importantly, she is kind, humble and is a positive and supportive teammate. 

- Coach Chris Johnson