Pan Ams profile: Alex Genest

The experienced Quebecois steeplechaser on the increasingly competitive event and running the Pan Am Games on home soil, in front of his children

Alex Genest has represented Canada many times in past few years at the top level of his event, the 3,000m steeplechase, but not here in Canada.

Genest, who just turned 29 on Tuesday, will race in the national championships Friday evening in Edmonton before representing Canada at the upcoming Pan Am Games in an event which has quickly become much more crowded than when he made the 2012 Olympic team.

“I don’t only have to be good, but I have to be at my best. It’s a good thing.”

“It has changed so much in the last few years,” says Genest of the 3,000m steeplechase landscape in Canada. “In 2012 I was the only one with standard for the Olympics. I won nationals, but the year after there were four guys competing for three spots at world championships. […] I don’t only have to be good, but I have to be at my best. It’s a good thing.”

Genest represented Canada at the 2011 and 2013 world championships and the 2012 Olympic Games. On Friday he’s racing for a spot on the world championship team in Beijing this August, but whether or not he qualifies he will race in the Pan Am Games, something special because it means his young children will get to see him race at home.

“We don’t really get a chance to do that that often for a major Games like Pan Ams, so it will be really unique competing in front of friends and family and especially in front of my kids,” says Genest.

Though he hasn’t competed at the senior level representing his country, 12 years ago the steeplechase runner wore the Canadian singlet racing near his hometown of Shawinigan, Que., at the world youth championships in Sherbrooke, alongside Chris Winter, still one of his main competitors.

Genest began his schooling at the University of Sherbrooke, about a two-hour drive from Shawinigan. Part way through university he transferred to the University of Guelph, a Canadian Interuniversity Sport powerhouse in track and field and cross-country. Since graduating, he’s stayed in Guelph to train and raise his young family with his wife, Marie-Christine.

“Being a dad gives me a motivation that I didn’t have before.”

“It changes everything, I would say,” says Genest about being a father. “Being a dad gives me a motivation that I didn’t have before, so it’s a great asset that I have. I just have to balance my life out so they have the room they deserve in my life and and make sure they’re happy with everything because being an athlete is somewhat selfish. I need to think about my food and my recovery, my training, but when I come back home, it has to be about the other people in my house. […] I’m really happy that I became a dad a bit on a early side of things.”

Whatever happens in Friday’s race, the Quebec-native is excited about the Pan Am Games.

“I can’t wait to see it and start thinking about how things will play out. I know it’s going to be tactical.”