Negri’s Season Ended On A Winning Note

While many athletes have had their seasons put on pause, or even cancelled, thrower Emma Negri was fortunate enough to compete in 2 of her last 3 events before everything came to a grinding halt.

Hailing from Blenheim, 6th grader Emma Negri is her 4 th year of throwing. She started throwing back in the spring of 2017, under the guidance of her dad, Darren Negri, a former thrower. In the spring of 2019, after a chance meet up with Darren’s former coach, Denise Hebert from Windsor, Emma joined the University of Windsor Athletics Club (UWAC) and began training with Denise and fellow coach Celine Gibb. She finished her 2019 outdoor season strong, finishing 5th in shot put and 4th in discus at the Athletics Ontario Outdoor Championship while competing as an underage 11-year-old in the U14 division.

Negri continued her shot-put training with UWAC through the winter months. At the end of January 2020, Emma set a new Athletics Ontario indoor shot-put record for U13 girls with a throw of 9.43m with the 3.0 kg shot, surpassing the previous record of 8.95m.

At the 2020 Athletics Ontario U14 Indoor Championship in Toronto on March 1, 2020, Emma won the provincial gold with a throw of 9.33m. One week later, Emma traveled to Ypsilanti, MI to compete in her second AAU 14-Under US Youth National Championship. Throwing the 2.73kg shot in the 12-year-old girls division, Emma’s throw of 9.40m was good enough to bring home the gold, earning her the distinction as an “All-American” for the second year in a row.

Unfortunately, due to the safety precautions put in place to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minor Track Association (MTA) Indoor Championship which was to be held in Toronto on March 28 and 29, has been cancelled. While she’s disappointed that her indoor season is done, Emma is grateful that her season was only cut short by 1 event, unlike many other athletes who are missing out on so much more.

After 4 months of training in Windsor, she is taking a much-deserved rest. In the upcoming weeks, she will resume her training at home in hopes that the outdoor throwing season will be able to proceed as planned.