The Orléans Star

Orléans hurdler Leewinchell Jean wrapped his outdoor track season with his biggest prize of all last week, captur-ing the gold medal in the U20 400-metre event at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Montreal.

The Ontario high school champion blew the field away in the final, crossing the finish line early 15 metres ahead of the defending champion in the event, Scott Dixon.

Not only was it Jean’s first medal at a national event, it was his first national event period. He was the number one ranked junior hurdler heading into the meet based on his time at the OFSAA provincial championships in June which he won in 52.95 seconds.

While Jean was well off his personal best time in Montréal, he still managed to run a sub-55, crossing the finish line in 54.42 seconds.

Running in lane five, Jean was already way ahead of his fellow competitors heading into the final bend. As he came off the turn and headed into the final stretch, no one was near him. He ended up stretching a 10-metre lead into a 15-metre win over the final two hurdles.

Jean went into the event after placing 11th at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Costa Rica earlier in the month. Keep in mind that the Gisèle-Lalonde grad is only 18 years old and still has a year of junior eligibility left.

Jean has seen a marked improvement in his times ever since he joined the Ottawa Lions track club last year. As a result of his success, he was approached by several universities seeking his ser-vices. He settled on the University of Windsor and is looking forward to competing at the next level.

“It’s going to be a challenge especially in my first year, but I’m really looking forward to it,” says Jean, who faces an additional challenge as a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church which calls for members to refrain from the pursuit of secular activities, including sports, on the Sabbath which is observed on Saturdays.

Members are left to decide on their own whether to compete on the Sabbath or not. The only time it’s really caused a conflict in Jean’s short career is the recent Athletics Ontario championship during which the 400-hurdle final was scheduled on a Saturday. Jean decided to forego the meet, having already won the provincial high school championship. The final at the Canadian championships was held on Sunday.

The only time he’s had to compete on the Sabbath was at the Pan Am Championhips. In the future, he will decided on a meet-by-meet basis.

The number of Seventh Day Adventist athletes are few and far between, but there are a handful of hurch members who managed to balance their faith with heir pursuit of athletics including Kenyan marathon runner Priscah Jeptoo who won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and David Alaba who is a midfielder for Bayern Munich.

Former Paralympian Lijiljana Ljubisic won a gold medal in discus and a silver medal in shot put competing for Canada at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona.

Perhaps the most famous Seventh Day Adventist athlete was professional boxer Archie Moore who held the world light heavyweight title for 10 years from 1952 to 1962.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church is a Protestant denomination which is distinguished by its adherence to the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week and its emphasis on the imminent Second Coming (Advent) of Jesus Christ. It is often confused with the Church of Latter Day Saints which is Mormon.

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