Bruchet

First it was the races, then the group sessions, and finally a full-fledged lockdown. The one thing that remained was the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Then even that was gone. For four years, everything Lucas Bruchet did, every ounce of sweat, all the pain of training, was geared towards the Olympics. So, what now?

As spring led to summer, the hours of training solo increased. He took time to enjoy life, road his mountain bike, focused on his studies – Bruchet returned to the University of British Columbia to take their Teacher Education program – and ran a few time trials to prove his fitness. He missed the adrenaline and the pre-race nerves, but most of all he missed competing.

Finally, on Nov. 21, 2020, Bruchet – alongside four Canadian elites – stood on the start line inside Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium. After 25 laps of the track, Bruchet crossed the finish line in 28:17.33 clocking a new personal best in the 10,000 metres. Two weeks later, he took a run at the 5,000 metres. The time wasn’t anything special, 13:32.99, but it re-lit that fire and Bruchet used those races as fuel to chase down his Tokyo dream.

That dream came true on June 12, once again under the lights of Swangard Stadium. Bruchet, who won the 5,000-metre event in 13:12.56 at the Harry Jerome Track Classic, smashed his personal best by 10 seconds and slid under the qualifying standard of 13:13.50. “I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life and I proved that last night,” said Bruchet the next day. “I got to 4K in good shape and thought ‘Ok, let’s see what’s left.”

Five years ago, Bruchet – who is also a three-time Canadian cross country champion and has represented Canada at two World Cross Country Championships – qualified for the Rio Games by also coming in just under the wire with a time of 13:24.10 – less than one second under the target of 13:25.

In Rio, Bruchet failed to qualify for the men’s 5,000-metre final after finishing 19th in his heat, but says “it was such a learning experience, and I’m proud of myself because I never gave up – I gave it everything I had, pushed myself as hard as I could the entire race, and kept trying to pass people until I crossed the finish line.”

Bruchet attended the University of British Columbia where he primarily competed in the middle-distance events (800 metres and 1,500 metres), while completing a degree in Kinesiology. He struggled with injuries, including stress fractures and a strained muscle in his hip, which caused him to miss the entire university track season as a sophomore.

In 2013, Bruchet won the 1,500 metres and finished fifth in the 5,000 metres at the North American Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships. He then went on to represent Canada at the Summer Universiade where he competed in the 5,000-metre final in front of 40,000 people in Kazan, Russia.

Bruchet’s third-place finish at the 2015 Canadian Track & Field Championships, earned him a spot on the Pan American Games team. In Toronto, he led for a lap during the final 1,000 metres before ultimately finishing eighth in the 5,000-metre event.

Following the Harry Jerome Track Classic, Bruchet called his trip to Tokyo “a business trip”. It won’t just be about making the team; it will be about making the final in the 5,000 metres.