613 in Paris: Sprinter Eliezer Adjibi finds his stride before Olympic debut in Paris

“613 in Paris” is our nine-part series profiling Olympic athletes representing Ottawa-Gatineau at Paris 2024. These written interviews, conducted before the competition, delve into each athlete’s experience with pandemic-era training, inspiration and community support, competition-day routines and rituals, and key elements to watch for in their respective sports.

Ottawa’s—and now Canada’s—rising track star, Eliezer Adjibi, is in top form for his Olympic debut. The budding sprinter proved he can run shoulder-to-shoulder with the nation’s best after his recent silver medal performance at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials.

Eliezer Adjibi strides to victory in the Men’s 4x100m Relay at the Niagara 2022 Canada Games. Photo by Anil Mungal / www.anilmungal.com (used with permission).

Apt613 connected with the 23-year-old, Benin-born sprinter in Ottawa for a written interview proceeding the 2024 Summer Olympics. In the interview, Adjibi backs believing in himself, praises his hometown club, and shares his “go with the flow” attitude on race days.

Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Eliezer Adjibi poses after his gold medal performance in the Men’s 100m Dash (Open) at the 2022 Ontario U20 & Open Athletics Championships. Photo via performancesportstherapyottawa/Instagram.

Adjibi, much like his sprint events, is quick and to the point. At the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, the sprinter learned that his 100m time of 10.32 seconds broke the previous Canada Games’ record—co-held by three men since 2017—and simply replied: “Woah… not bad.”

Today, Adjibi is a world-class sprinter and a mechanical engineering student at the University of Ottawa, but he entered Louis-Riel High School as a soccer player. He picked up track as a junior and graduated as a bonafide sprinter in his senior year—securing silver and bronze medals in the Under-20 200m and 100m dash events at the 2018 Canadian Track and Field Championships.

Eliezer Adjibi competing at 17 years old, his rookie season as a sprinter. Photo via caniathletics/Instagram.

“I’m trying to see how far I can go in this sport,” says Adjibi. “I believe I can get to a certain level, and I can’t let myself not reach that level.” It’s safe to say the sprinter is on the right track.

Adjibi claimed second place in the 100m Final at the 2024 Canadian National Championships in a time of 10.23 seconds—a mere three one-hundredths of a second off the winning time (10.20s) posted by six-time Olympic medallist, Andre DeGrasse. The two men, alongside third-place finisher and two-time Olympic medallist, Aaron Brown, were all named to Canada’s 4x100m Relay squad competing in Paris 2024.

 

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With his Paris 2024 qualification, Adjibi became the first Olympic product of his Ottawa-based club—C.A.N.I. (Constant And Never-ending Improvement) Athletics. The sprinter credits the club for supporting his vision, saying: “My coach and my club believe[d] in me and force[d] me to stay focused.” Adjibi’s coach and club founder, Lyndon George, is himself an Olympian, having competed for his native St. Lucia at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

Heading into his Olympic debut, Adjibi is nonchalant about a rigid race-day routine. He prefers to “go with the flow,” adding: “I should be fine as long as I don’t eat something too heavy.” He cited plantain chips as a go-to for pre-race nutrition.

Eliezer Adjibi (right) celebrates with a teammate at the Niagara 2022 Canada Games. Photo by Anil Mungal / www.anilmungal.com (used with permission).

Eliezer Adjibi steps onto the track as a member of the seven-person squad in the Men’s 4x100m Relay. Preliminary races begin on August 8, with the Final happening the following day. Readers can follow Adjibi’s Olympic debut on Instagram.