While there are no athletes directly from St. Thomas-Elgin going to the Paris Olympics, there are five from London and one from Delaware representing Canada.
19-year-old skateboarder Cordano Russell essentially exploded out of nowhere and squarely into a birth at the 2024 Olympics Games.
Originally born in London, Russell’s family moved to the US when he was four and it was shortly after he first discovered skateboarding.
Before committing fully to the skateboarding path, Russell was also on track for a future in American Football, playing for D1 high schools with a year spent at Horizon Prep.
But the Canadian’s preference for hitting the floor over taking tackles eventually won out. Russell posted Canada’s best ever world championship result in men’s street when he finished fourth at the 2023 WST Street World Championships in Tokyo.
He earned his ticket to Paris 2024, where he would make his Olympic debut, with a 10th-place finish in the second stop of the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest in June 2024. That ensured he would be ranked 16th in the World Skateboarding Ranking, making him the top Canadian Olympic qualifier in the men’s street event.
He is just one of four skateboarders representing Canada and is competing Monday morning in the men’s street prelims- which got underway as of 6 a.m.
Written by: K. Freemam
