Teen is the first Yukoner to compete in heptathlon at the quadrennial event; heads into Day 2 in 15th

Kate Londero only began focusing her training on heptathlon in May, but the 18-year-old athlete is off to a strong start as the first Yukoner to compete in the athletics event at the Canada Summer Games.

Londero currently sits in 15th place after four events and is scheduled to complete the final three events at the track today.

“Day 1 was fantastic,” said coach Lisa Vowk.

She and Londero had attended the Jack Brow Invitational Track Meet in Kelowna at the start of the summer to get some qualifying results.

After one day of competition Thursday, Londero set four personal records.

A relative beginner in the hurdles, Londero finished last in that event, but scored 397 points toward her final total.

In her second event yesterday, high jump, she was also 15th, but scored 275 points.

Londero was without a high jump to practise on in the Yukon.

So other than one day of training at the venue, she hadn’t practised the discipline before.

She watches other competitors and picks up on their technique.

“I still have a lot of things to work on,” she said this morning from Winnipeg, where she is in high spirits ahead of her final events.

Without a proper high jump mat to train on, she has been simulating movements and doing plyometric exercises set out by Vowk.

Vowk, in her own right competed in the pentathlon at the world master games in 2009, finishing fourth and setting a Canadian record.

“It’s been a challenge in the Yukon,” she said of helping Londero prepare for the seven events.

There is no rubberized track for the athletes to wear their spikes on, there is no cement throwing circle for the throwing disciplines and up until a few weeks ago, there was no long jump pit.

Vowk said that coach Don White dug it up himself.

Heptathlon involves seven events with competitors accumulating points and at the end of two days of competition, the athlete with the most points gets crowned the winner.

On Thursday they competed in 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m sprint. Today they will wrap things up with the long jump, javelin and 800m.

“This is when the athletes feel, wow, yesterday was a big day,” said Vowk of day 2.

But Londero is prepared. She said she feels less anxious than yesterday and better physically than when she competed in Kelowna.

“I’m actually feeling really good,” she said.

One of her favourite events is still to come: javelin.

While Londero trained mostly as a runner before, she is now strong in her throwing disciplines.

In shot put yesterday, she beat two other competitors and put up a score of 436.

She was 15th in her final event yesterday, the 200m and enters competition at the bottom of the leaderboard with 1,619 points. About 400 points separate her and 14th-place Emily Jean Foley of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mentally, Londero said she’s feeling good and is looking forward to wrapping up her competition.

“I’m dreading the 800m just like everyone else,” she said.

In other action on the track Thursday, Dominic Korn competed in the B-final of the men’s 100m. He placed 13th in the competition.

Alysha Gullison competed in discus and finished 16th.

Other athletes in action today are on the track. Joe Parker and Jack Amos race the 5,000m. Dominic Korn is in the 200m B-final and Camille Galloway competes in the 5,000m.

This is the final day of competition for week one athletes. The rest of team Yukon arrives Saturday and week one athletes will depart for the Yukon.

Competition begins anew Sunday for cycling. Yukon’s canoe/kayak, swimming, soccer and volleyball athletes are scheduled for practice.