SEATTLE, Wash.- Athletes from West Michigan are coming home from the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games with suitcases bulging with medals.
More than 20 competitors from SOMI earned a bronze, silver or gold medal. And one, distance runner Julian Borst from Kalamazoo, won gold in all the events he entered.
“I got three gold medals,” he says with a smile, “It feels pretty darn good.”
Borst was first in the 10,000-meter, 5,000 meters and 3,000-meter races. Coming to the games he says his goal was all gold.
“Yea, that was the plan,” he said.
Borst says he inherited some of his running ability from his mother, Ruth, who is also a long-distance racer. He also trains and practices regularly.
“I run every day,” he says. “Four to 11 miles every day. Soon I will move up to eight to 19 miles for marathon training."
Now that he has completed in the USA Games, Julian says his next goal it to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
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