Arjun Sandhu has burst onto the scene in pure running fashion - fast. Whether breaking records or securing spot after spot on the podium, the Grade 10 athlete from École Salish Secondary has a bright future ahead of him. Coming off a track season which saw him become a national record holder, he continued the momentum into this past cross country season, where he also had immense success. He became the Junior Boys South Fraser Champion and also secured the BC High School Junior Boys Provincial Championship title, winning the race by over 10 seconds.
I caught up with Sandhu about how he got his start in the sport, his training group and his time in high school athletics so far.
Personal Bests
800m: 2:00.17
1200m: 3:11.86
1500m: 4:07.51
2000m: 5:38.54
3000m: 8:45.89
Career Accolades
2023 BC High School Junior 3000m Silver
2023 BC Club U16 800m Gold
2023 BC Club U16 1200m Gold
2023 BC Club U16 2000m Gold
2023 National Legion U16 1200m Bronze
2023 National Legion U16 2000m Gold
2023 BC High School Junior XC Gold
2022 BC High School Grade 8 3000m Silver
2000m U16 National Record Holder & BC Club Record Holder
Sandhu got his start in sports early. From the age of five he played soccer full time with a club, whereas cross country and track were just sports he participated in at school.
"I joined cross country and track because my friends wanted to join and my Grade 3 teacher was also the coach of the running teams so she encouraged me to join. However, because of soccer I was not able to train for cross country and track much but I came out to the races. It was good cross training for soccer."
In 2022 this all changed when Sandhu made the decision to join the Vancouver Thunderbirds Track & Field Club so he could properly train for athletics.
"I was only able to train on the track two days a week due to my commitment to BCSPL soccer, where I trained three days a week, in addition to games. However, at the 2022 BC XC Provincial Championships I surprised myself by placing tenth. I knew that if I wanted to pursue running I would need to fully commit to training. By the end of 2022 I made the decision to stop playing high performance league soccer, since it was difficult to balance the commitment of two sports. I have since joined a local Langley team who trains two days instead of three and this allows me to train more for my running goals."
Following this switch in training, Sandhu started to set goals for himself leading into the 2023 track and field season.
"I wanted to run 2:05 in the 800m, 4:20 in the 1500m and 9:30 in the 3000m. I exceeded my goals and ended up running 2:00.17 in the 800m, 4:07 in the 1500m and 8:45 in the 3000m."