Step by step, Jean-Simon Desgagnés is ready to achieve his Olympic dreams
How did the summer/fall 2023 season go for Jean-Simon Desgagnés?
“A+ after A+,” the 25-year-old from Saint-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Quebec, replied with a chuckle.
No, he wasn’t talking about summer courses (though he is also a medical student at Université Laval). It was a series of career-launching steeplechase performances that received top grades from the Canadian rising star in athletics.
For those unfamiliar with the steeplechase, the event is a 3000m race with hurdles, including some over water. Each circuit around the track sees athletes go over four barriers and one water jump.
What most casual fans might not know, Desgagnés says, is the huge strategic difference between races that involve hurdles, and those that do not.
“Every hurdle is a way to pass someone. It’s a way to get passed. It’s a way to go: ‘Oh, I’m going to time my kick with this hurdle.’ All those little ups and downs are what make this sport interesting.”
Desgagnés kicked off last summer racing to a personal best and Quebec record in Hungary. He showed his international pedigree with an eighth-place finish at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. Then there was the gold medal he won at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games.
But the thing that keeps people watching Desgagnés isn’t just the exciting nature of the steeplechase, or the quick times he’s laid down. It’s the way that he wears his heart on his sleeve and is committed to the foundational principles that his high school phys ed teacher taught him–that sport, at the end of the day, should be about fun, and your team.
That penchant for having fun was on full display during the Pan Am Games, where Desgagnés took such a lead that even a wipeout on the final water jump couldn’t steal away the top spot on the podium. Immediately after, Desgagnés was ready to laugh about taking a dip.
The commitment to being a team player in what is often considered an individual sport saw Desgagnés extend an already very long racing season to double back immediately after Santiago 2023 to run for Laval in the U SPORTS Cross-Country Championships a week later.
“People would say. ‘Oh, you’re a world championship athlete, Pan Am gold medallist–why would you do U SPORTS? But I’ve been part of this team for basically my whole running career. It was my fifth year and I wanted to use it because of the team spirit,” said Desgagnés. “The vibe we get from being around each other is so incredible–it’s part of why I joined the sport in the first place.”
The Laval team finished second and Desgagnés took silver to his teammate Philippe Morneau-Cartier’s gold. The whole team sported matching bleached hair with red tips.
“It might not have been what every world stage athlete would do, but I have no regrets. It’s how I’ve been doing things for a long time now and I’m so happy to do it.”
Growing up, Desgagnés was all about team sports: “I played hockey, I played basketball, I played football, ultimate frisbee, alpine skiing. I touched track and field at some point during high school but I was definitely not into it.”
It wasn’t until CEGEP that he realized that track and field could be more than an individual sport. It was training as a team that made him fall in love with running.
“And since then, I’ve been going step-by-step, improving. And now here I am.”
If having fun and being a good teammate is Desgagnés’ sporting philosophy, step-by-step might be a good way to describe his training philosophy.
“If I wake up in the morning and I tell myself I want to be good at the Olympics and they’re eight months away, why would I go to bed early or do my stretches? But if I want to be good at training tomorrow, that feels more necessary,” Desgagnés said.
“You have to give yourself smaller goals, smaller steps. You have to want to hit the workout, to do a small PB at the gym. And then when you accomplish all the small goals, you get the big one.”
If anyone was worried that summer 2024 couldn’t live up to summer 2023 for Desgagnés, that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case. He defended his crown as Canadian champion in the 3000m steeplechase at the Bell Track & Field Trials and was named to his first Olympic team. Oh, and he also finished up an internship in infectious diseases at the Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus in Quebec City.
Desgagnés then headed off to France to fit in a bit more racing before the Olympic Games. At the Meeting de Paris in early July, Desgagnés ran a new PB and Quebec record of 8:13.11. Even all the way in France there was still a teammate to celebrate with. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, fellow Quebec athlete and Laval-alum, ran a Canadian record in the flat 3000m at the same meet.
READ: Charles Philibert-Thiboutot: From the toughest of times to running back to the top
At only 25, Desgagnés already has a solid grasp on the type of role model he wants to be in sport. And if he could tell future athletes anything, it would be that same philosophy inspired by his high school gym teacher.
“Do a sport because you like it. Not because someone pushes you to do it, or because you’re good at it. Do it because you love it and have fun doing it. That’s how you’ll do it for a long time and have a good career. When you stop, you don’t want to say, ‘Oh, I’ve wasted 10-15 years of my life.’ You want to say, ‘Oh, those were the best 15 years of my life.’”
Athletics events at Paris 2024 will be spread over 11 days, August 1-11. The first round of the men’s steeplechase will be held on August 5. Desgagnés heads into the Games ranked 12th in the world in the steeplechase.
Rapid fire with Jean-Simon Desgagnés
O.ca: If you could be an Olympian in any other sport, what would it be?
JSD: Definitely freestyle skiing. I’ve been skiing my whole life.
O.ca: What’s your favourite Olympic memory as a Team Canada fan?
JSD: The Sidney Crosby golden goal. I remember I was playing hockey at the time and they announced it on the speaker: “Sidney Crosby just scored the goal for the gold medal game!” I didn’t even watch it but I remember where I was and I felt so proud. For the Summer Games, I would say Andre De Grasse winning his medals in Rio. Wow, that was incredible.
O.ca: What’s a workout that makes you feel ready to race?
JSD: I think for me, my go-to workout would be 3 x 1000m with 400m over hurdles. So we do 1000m at, let’s say, 3K pace, and 400m at 2K steeple pace over hurdles, and then we do that three times.