Runner Lucas Bruchet is one of 20 UBC athletes competing at the 27th Universiade in Kazan, Russia
Lucas Bruchet is about to get a taste for high-level international competition when he heads to the 27th Universiade also known as the World University Summer Games.
“There will be some stellar athletes, athletes who have been at the Olympics,” said Bruchet, who races for UBC’s cross-country and track and field teams.
Universiade is a multi-sport event like the Olympics that will bring 10,000 of the top university athletes from around the world to Kazan, Russia from July 6 to 17.
UBC athletes well represented at the Universiade
Nineteen current and former Thunderbirds and another student are among the 380 athletes representing Canada at the Games, including four who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Theresa Hanson, associate director of Intercollegiate and High Performance Sport at UBC, is serving as Canada’s Chef de Mission.
“It’s cool to be surrounded by athletes with the same goals, it’s pretty motivating,” said Bruchet, just days after finishing fourth at the Canadian Track and Field Championships. “My goal is to go to the Olympics and World Championships. This is a big step in the right direction.”
Comeback kid
Bruchet will be running the 5,000-metre track race. At the Canadian Championships, he fell just short of earning a medal but understands he is new to the event. Until recently, Bruchet raced middle-distance events such as the 800m or 1500m.
A couple of years ago, he was ready to leave the sport altogether.
“For the first few years at UBC, I struggled with injuries. I had stress fractures and I strained a muscle in my hip. In my sophomore year, I had to take the entire university track season off,” said the Kinesiology student from White Rock, B.C.
For the first time this year, Bruchet was able to overcome his injuries. He decided to change of his training philosophy and try some new things.
“At the start of the season, I had no expectations. With running, it typically takes a few years to reap the benefits of a training program,” he said. “It was surprising because I started to see the success quite quickly.”
This year, Bruchet has made a name for himself at cross-country and track meets across North America. In cross-country, he placed third at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships and fifth at the Canadian championships, which earned him a spot on the national team for the World Cross Country Championships. During the track season, Bruchet won the 1500m and placed fifth in the 5000m at the NAIA Championships, races that were only two hours apart. As well, he ran the time standard in the 5,000m earning his place on the Canadian squad for the 2013 Summer Universiade.
Looking ahead to Kazan, Bruchet is hoping to make the 5,000 metre final but regardless of the outcome, knows that it will be good to get more experience on the world stage.
UBC athletes representing Canada at the 2013 Summer Universiade
Women’s Basketball
Men’s Fencing
- Haig Basmadjian
Men’s Rugby
Men’s Soccer
Women’s Soccer
Swimming
Track and Field
- Lucas Bruchet
- Evan Dunfee
- Inaki Gomez
- Sabrina Nettey
- Ben Thorne
Women’s Volleyball
