THUNDER BAY – Hannah Gula’s path to becoming a weightlifter has been an interesting one.
Gula, who grew up in Red Lake, was a gymnast for 10 years and moved away from home to train in Toronto.
Once that part of her life wrapped up, Gula moved to Thunder Bay where her family is now located.
“I trained 30 hours as week as a gymnast, so I now had a lot of free time on my hands,” Gula said.
“I joined a local gym and I met a bunch of friends that were really into CrossFit, so I ended up getting involved with that.”
Six years ago, Gula soon found herself entered into a weightlifting meet at Superior CrossFit.
“I didn’t really want to compete, but it was actually going to be a potluck to go along with the meet so I went,‘Okay, sign me up,’” Gula said with a laugh.
“I actually qualified for the provincials in my first competition and I realized that it was different from gymnastics – which I had devoted so much of my life to – and it was still a really cool way to express my athleticism as I realized that I did miss that aspect of my life.”
Gula soon qualified for her first national championship and has been competing in the sport ever since.
She’s also gotten the chance to compete on the international stage, which included a trip to the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in Suva, Fuji last month
Gula finished fifth in the women’s 59-kilogram division and helped Canada’s women’s senior team capture the top team award.
“I was extremely proud to be a part of that and to see everyone on our team have great showings,” Gula said.
“There were 15 different countries at the event so be able to prove that we are a top team was really awesome.”
Gula said she’s super grateful for the chance to compete around the world and to be able to express her athleticism as an adult.
“I still love to compete and train and have some purpose in all of that,” Gula added.
“This has pushed me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to meet a lot of really great people and go to a lot of cool places. None of that would have happened if I hadn’t pushed myself.”
Gula’s competitive season continues in November as she competes in the provincial championships in Toronto and looks to qualify for the 2025 national championship in Calgary in May.
Her long-term goal is to start qualifying for more international events and Olympic qualifying events so that she can compete at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I did one Olympic qualifying event in the last cycle, for this year’s games in Paris, but you need to go to about five or six events and be ranked among the top 10 in the world in order to be selected for the Olympics,” Gula said.
“The ultimate goal is to go to Los Angeles in 2028, but I’m trying to break that down a little bit because it’s a very big, scary and ominous goal… but it’s also very exciting.”
