Though she moved to Saskatchewan only nine months ago, Erica Schryer is already showing a ton of Prairie grit.
Schryer has trained out of CrossFit 306 with co-owner and coach Jason Cain since January, who first identified the Ontario teen in 2022 as a potential elite weightlifter at the Atlas Games in Montreal.
“There were six podium spots available,” said Cain. “Gold, silver, bronze for both the men’s and women’s [divisions]. Our gym out of all of Canada picked up 50 per cent of those spots, but there was one girl that beat us all and her name was Erica Schryer.”
Schryer was convinced to move to Saskatoon from her native Ontario to continue her training out west.
However, she had to endure not only a move to a new home but an elbow injury which halted her training for close to a year.
That determination finally paid off in June at the 2024 Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championship where the 19-year-old set numerous provincial records and claimed three gold medals in the 64-kilogram division.
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“I got it overhead, stood it up and then I saw the three white lights,” said Schryer. “It kind of set in that I was like, ‘I think I just won nationals.’”
Schryer is now getting ready to compete for Canada at the upcoming Commonwealth Championships in Fiji and will be joined at the event by fellow 306 teammate Brynn Delainey who is coming off an appearance at the Pan American Youth Championships in Ecuador.
Combined with another world youth champion in the city in Etta Love, it’s a training ground which is just starting to take off on the world stage according to Cain.
“The last two years have been the most successful years in Saskatchewan weightlifting history,” said Cain. “In terms of total medal count at both juniors and seniors.”
While the nerves will be higher than usual for Schryer in Fiji, her international debut will go through the same repetitions which have allowed her to become one of the top young lifters in the country.
“I walk up onto the stage and I stare at one spot,” said Schryer. “Everything else gets blocked out and I’m just lifting.”
The Commonwealth Championships will run from Sept. 17 to 21 in Suva, Fiji.
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