Forget Ford versus Ferrari.
Island runners Nathan Riech and Liam Stanley continued their own epic duel, which will conclude at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics next summer.
Riech won gold and Stanley was fifth in the T37/38 men’s 1,500 metres at the 2019 IAAF world para track and field championships over the weekend in Dubai. That follows the 1-2 finish and gold and silver medals, respectively, for Riech and Stanley over the summer at the 2019 Para Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
Stanley was silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Riech burst onto the scene and has blossomed since coming to the Athletics Canada Western Hub middle-distance training centre at PISE on the Camosun College Interurban campus. Riech set the world record last year but hasn’t forgotten who blazed the trail in the 1,500 metres.
“Liam [Stanley] inspires me,” said Riech, during his trackside interview with media in Dubai.
“That dude is one of the toughest guys I have run against. He is going to be back in the Paralympics. Don’t be surprised if he is on the podium with me [at Tokyo 2020].”
Riech is coached by Heather Hennigar and Stanley by two-time Olympians Bruce Deacon.
“My support team is amazing,” said Riech.
“This win is because of them. They told me I could be the best the world. I wanted to show all her [Hennigar’s] hard work.”
Riech was hit on the head by a golf ball at age 10 in Arizona and suffered a brain injury that affected the left side of his body with paralysis. The dual citizen, who identifies as Canadian, certainly has the genetic pedigree. Dad Todd Riech competed in the javelin for the U.S. at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and mom Ardin Tucker was a pole vaulter who won the Canadian Olympic trials at Centennial Stadium for Sydney 2000 and represented Canada at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Grandfather Jim Harrison played eight seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins and also in the WHA. Grandmother Elizabeth Harrison was a noted equestrian rider. Uncle Trevor Harrison is a former rugby player out of Cowichan who is and has been personal therapist and trainer for NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant and Blake Griffin, as well as other major pro athletes. Although not genetic, step-dad Ben Tucker was selected by San Francisco in the eighth round of the 1995 MLB draft and made it to Double-A in the Giants’ system.
With a background like that, it was clear it would take more than an errant golf ball to keep Nathan Riech away from sports.
“I want to use my platform to better the Paralympic movement,” said Riech, who raced against able-bodied athletes during his NCAA career at South Alabama.
Stanley, meanwhile, wanted more from the worlds in Dubai.
“I wanted higher [than world top-five] but it didn’t happen today,” said Stanley, who suffered a stroke at birth and is partially paralyzed down the right side of his body.
Stanley starred at Glenlyon Norfolk School in able-bodied soccer, basketball and track and led GNS to two Colonist Cup high school soccer championship game appearances and three B.C. single-A titles. He was two-time Canadian para-soccer player of the year. Canada failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympics in soccer, so Stanley turned to track and won silver in Rio.
Now comes a new challenger in Riech.
Stanley and Riech will spend the winter training in their separate Victoria camps, preparing for their showdown next year at Tokyo 2020.
