It was a record setting day for Big River’s Josh Christiansen at the North Central District Track Meet in Prince Albert last week.
Christiansen finished first in the Junior Boys Discus with a throw of 40.61 metres, finishing over 12 metres ahead of his closest challenger Cash Pilon from St. Louis.
Christiansen’s throw set a new district record breaking Richard Skopyk’s record of 40.57 metres which dated back to 1979.
“It feels pretty awesome to break a record.” Christiansen said in an interview with the Daily Herald. “Seems like a pretty hard thing to do and it takes a lot of work.”
Christiansen is the third generation in his family who has attempted to break the record. Josh’s father and coach, Dean, says it was a record he was never able to break while he competed.
“There’s a little bit of history behind it because my uncle liked to throw discus and when I was young, I looked up to him and I started throwing discus and I remember him gunning for that record that Josh broke today. Anyway he inspired me to throw and I was a discus thrower and when Josh got old enough I started teaching him how to throw.”
“It was a record that my uncle couldn’t break. It was a record I couldn’t break and now he’s breaking it. It’s pretty satisfying especially as a coach to see him get a personal best like that on a track and field day. It’d be one thing to do it in practice but he has never thrown that far in practice and then to go and do it at the actual meet that’s pretty special.”
Christiansen has qualified for the provincial track meet in Moose Jaw next weekend.
