Coquitlam sprinter James Linde won silver in the 200m sprint at the World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan on Saturday. It was Canada’s first medal in the meet’s athletics competition.
Linde, who was running in lane one, finished just .03 seconds behind gold medalist Jeffrey John, of France.
Mike Linde, James’ dad, said his son called shortly after the race, which was run at 5 a.m. Vancouver time, excited and giggling.
“He surprised himself,” said Mike, who watched the race with his wife, Debbie, on a live streaming feed on their computer.
“We were totally shocked. We jumped up and down,” Mike said. “It was quite a moment.”
Mike said James appeared to get off to a slow start and looked to be in dead last coming around the bend. But he picked up his pace in the last 100 metres. Only .23 seconds separated the eight competitors, who ran into a stiff headwind.
Linde, who also finished second in the 100m at June’s Harry Jerome International Track Classic in Coquitlam behind Canadian Olympian Andre De Grasse, returns home on Thursday.
