User:Stephenls07/sandbox

Stephen Lacroix-Sneyd
Stephen Lacroix-Sneyd, born on 30 April, 2007, is a French-Australian middle distance track and field athlete. In 2022, he claimed his first state title at the South Australian Track and Field Championships in both the 800m (2:05.38) and 1500m (4:19.01). He continued his strong form later in the Winter Cross Country Season where he claimed his first State Cross Country title at the South Australian State Oakbank Cross Country Championships, coming first place out of ninety-eight runners. These results placed Stephen first in the South Australian rankings for his age group in both Track and Field and Cross Country. At the start of 2023, he found great form in both training and races, and ran his first ever 3000m at the South Australian State 3000m Championships. He was placed in the B heat, with runners significantly more experienced than him in the event, as well as older than him by two whole age groups. He ended up coming seventh out of twenty-one runners, in a time of 8:59.56, for his 3000m debut, beating the sub-nine minute barrier. At the 2023 State Championships a couple of months later, he decided to challenge himself by running the open age group, with runners who were significantly older than him. He claimed new personal bests in the 1500m (4:04.17) and remained his first place stance in the rankings for his age group category. With Stephen's times in both the 1500m and 3000m, and rank in South Australia, he was able to meet the Athletics Australia qualification standards to compete in the 2023 Australian Athletics Championships in Brisbane, Queensland. He was able to compete against the very best around Australia in his age group at this event. Stephen placed 4th in the 1500m (4:05.22) and placed 4th again in the 3000m, as well as gaining a new personal best (8:50.96). His placing in this event now represents Stephen as the 4th fastest in the country for both these events in Australia for his age group.

Early Life/Career
2022 Australian Track and Field Championships, he improved his sprint times by a lot and made a personal best in the 400m at the 2022 South Australian State Championships, in a time of 56.54 seconds, placing 4th overall in his age group. Interestingly, Stephen always had a desire to win and therefore also signed himself up for the 800m to see if he could win the event at the State Championships. Although he had never ran an 800m before, he placed third with a time of 2:15.34. He then travelled to Sydney, Australia, where the 2021 Australian Track and Field Championships were being held. Stephen was seeded last place with his times in both the 400m and 800m. He was able to grab a personal bests in the 400m (56.16) and the 800m (2:12.34). He came 28th overall in the 400m and 32nd overall in the 800m. After the Championships, Stephen was determined that he wanted to take the sport seriously as he grew a passion for it. He signed up for school cross country where he was able to build his endurance and joined a coaching squad. At the 2021 State Cross Country Championships, Stephen was about to race his first cross country race ever. His coach told him to aim for top-20, but instead, ended up placing 6th out of 84 runners, proving he had lots of potenital in the middle-distance/distance races. He continued to work hard throughout the year for the 2021/2022 Athletics season. In his first race back, he signed himself up for the 800m at the South Australian All Schools Championships. Due to the format of the event, not only Stephen had to race his own age group, but also the age group above him. He ended up placing 4th out of the 12 runners in the 800m race, with a huge personal best of 2:04.33. The three runners that beat Stephen were runners that were a year older than him, meaning he placed first in his actual age group. he continued to compete almost weekly and by the start of the Summer Holidays, his 800m personal best was 2:02.64. Stephen tried to get as much training done as possible during the holidays. At this time, another distance coach asked Stephen if he wanted to join his squad. The coach who asked this was Michael Nitschke, a very well-known runner/coach in the Australian Athletics world, as well as a podiatrist. Stephen tried to train in both squads, but this sparked a conflict with Stephen's first original coach. Stephen decided to join Michael Nitschke's training squad, known as the Adelaide Milers Crew. Since then he has trained hard in the squad for the 800m. When Michael saw Stephen train, he instantly knew Stephen had the most potential in the 1500m/3000m. At the 2022 South Australian Athletics Championships, Stephen claimed his first state title in both the 800m and 1500m. He then continued to build his endurance in the cross country season with the Adelaide Milers Crew, also claiming his first State Cross Country title in 2022. This allowed him to qualify for the 2022 Australian National Cross Country Championships, which were held in Adelaide. Unfortunately, he didn't finish the race, coming last, and raced poorly despite his great lead up to the race. At the start of the 2022/2023 season, Stephen did his first 1500m of the year and got an 11 second personal best, in a time of 4:08.16. He continued to train hard throughout the season and slowly climbed the Australian National rankings for his age. Four months later, he competed in his first ever 3000m claiming a national qualifier and a personal best, in a time of 8:59.56. This put him first in the South Australian Rankings and fourteenth in the National Rankings. As he trained hard for the 2023 Australian Athletics Championships in April in Brisbane, Queensland, he was seed fourteenth for both the 1500m and 3000m. However, Stephen raced very well in both events grabbing personal bests in both events, to claim 4th place in both events. His times and placing at the event now puts Stephen 4th in the Australian Rankings for both the 1500m and 3000m in his age group as well as first in the South Australian Rankings for his age group.