At eight years old Jason McCoombs was just a boy, paddling at the Banook Canoe Club with his friends because it looked like a lot of fun. Eleven years later, the world watched him compete in sprint canoeing for the first time at the London Olympics.
Born and raised in Dartmouth, McCoombs, 19, was the Olympian who almost wasn’t.
His battle began last May at the Canadian Sprint Team Trials in Georgia.
“I ended up coming second in that race, so I needed to win the next two races to qualify because it’s a best two out of three scenario,” explains McCoombs, a transfer to Dalhousie this fall.
The paddler went on to do exactly that in a pair of international races in Poland and Germany. Twice he managed to pull ahead of the same competitor who beat him in Georgia, earning himself a surprise spot in London.
The Olympics were not even on McCoombs’ radar until a training camp before the trials in May. Later that month, his ticket was stamped to London.
“I mean, the Olympics is always something amateur athletes in general strive towards. But it didn’t really become a realistic goal until Florida camp this year; I really thought I could go for it.”
Despite an impressive resume to back up his Olympic berth, from taking home three gold medals and two silvers at the 2010 Junior Pan American Canoe Championships to a strong showing at this year’s World Cup, none of this prepared him for the shock of going to London.
“When I was lining up for my heat, it was very surreal. And when they said ‘ready, set, go,’ it was almost like I couldn’t believe where I was,” recalls McCoombs.
Ultimately, he finished 13th in his Canoe Single 200 metre heat, but it hasn’t deterred him.
In an interview with Postmedia News, the Canadian team’s veteran coach Laszlo (Csom) Latorovski said he has every reason to believe the Dartmouth native will only improve.
“I invited him to [the national] camp just to learn, from the older ones. He held up to the training very well,” he said, adding that McCoombs has made a two-second improvement on his time in the 200 metre sprint since last year, which they compared to jumping two grades at school in half a term.
“This is incredible,” said Latorovski, who has coached world-class paddlers for 35 years. “I never expected anything like that,” he said.
“He’s the most talented I’ve ever seen.”
Now, McCoombs is working toward a degree in physics at Dal after previously studying at Saint Mary’s University. He’ll take a full course load this semester, then drop to three credits in the winter term to accommodate a training session in Florida during February.
He doesn’t know what he’ll do yet, joking he can’t be an athlete forever, but he’s excited for the challenges ahead. He’ll continue to train for the 2016 Olympics and other international races in between, but will work toward his degree whenever he can. He may consider a master’s later on in life as well, inspired by fellow athlete and Dal alumni Mark de Jonge.
“I figured these guys have done it before—graduated from engineering and just won a bronze medal,” says McCoombs of his Team Canada teammate.
“Guys like Steve Giles, who has an engineering degree as well. So I know I can do it.”
For now, he’s concentrating on his labs and waiting for his workload to pile up, just like a regular university student.
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