LANGFORD, B.C. – Canmore’s first athlete to qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics Games has arrived.
Suffering from a broken nose, Krissy Scurfield had a split decision to make about playing in an Olympic-clinching rugby match: realign her bleeding, crooked beak right then and sit out of the qualifying game, or bandage up her damaged face and get on the pitch in a few hours.
The decision came easy to the gritty competitor.
“Obviously, I chose to put a little splint on it and play,” said Scurfield, who was all smiles under her bandages after realizing a long-time childhood dream as she is set to become a first-time Olympian next year.
Rugby Canada’s senior women’s sevens team earned a Paris 2024 berth after dominating the Olympic qualifier tournament on Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 19-20) in Langford, British Columbia.
Thank you, Langford, for your incredible (and 📣 loud!) support 🙏❤️
— Rugby Canada (@RugbyCanada) August 21, 2023
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Merci, Langford, pour votre incroyable (et 📣 bruyant!) soutien 🙏❤️#RugbyCA | #RoadtoParis2024
Scurfield, a 20-year-old with rocket fuel in her boots, led Canada with 12 tries over the weekend, including two against Mexico in the final match while competing with a broken nose. However, the moment was much bigger for the Canmorite.
“Going into the huddle when everyone had the realization that we qualified for the Olympics is obviously super amazing and something we all worked pretty hard for our entire lives,” said Scurfield. “It is just a great feeling to be able to share that with the people I train with every single day and all my best friends.”
At only 20 years old, Scurfield is a certified scoring-machine on the international scene and a key part of the young, but competitive national team.
Playing wing, meaning Scurfield is a bullet on the pitch, she easily out-runs defenders and piles up tries. On the other end, she’s a last line of defence, capable of chasing down even the quickest of rivals. The ex-hockey player, who spent a lot of time in the penalty box, also isn’t afraid to get into the thick of things.
“I always wanted to be an Olympian, whether it was Summer or Winter. It’s just a dream come true to be where I am now,” Scurfield said.
After failing to qualify for the Summer Games through the HSBC World Sevens Series, the Canadian women used the Rugby Americas North (RAN) tournament on home soil to punch their ticket.
On the first day, Canada went 3-0 against St. Lucia, Mexico and Jamaica. Scurfield ran in eight tries, including a pair of hat tricks.
The perfect day placed the Canucks in a comfy 1-vs-4 semifinals match-up on day two, where they easily defeated St. Lucia to advance to the winner-goes-to-Paris match against Mexico.
Scurfield rushed in four tries on day two.
The Canadians made no mistake against Mexico, walking over them to become the eighth sevens team to qualify for Paris 2024, and first Canadian team from a team sport.
With the USA absent from RAN because they have already qualified for the Games, Canada was the huge favourite – and it showed on the scoreboard. The Canucks walloped the competition 288-7 in five matches.
The seven points against are also the reason why Scurfield’s nose was realigned.
The only try scored against Canada came from St. Lucia’s Marline Chery, who the Canmore sprinter hit with a late tackle afterwards, resulting in a yellow card – and an elbow to the face – for the Canuck.
“Our goal over the weekend was to get zero tries against, so I was like I’ll do anything to not let them score and then it happened after. She got up and elbowed me in the face and that’s what broke my nose, not even the tackle, so maybe I got what I deserved,” Scurfield said with a laugh.
The ultra competitiveness is no surprise from those who have watched her play though.
“She’s a tough character, that’s for sure,” said Scurfield’s former Banff Bears rugby coach, Lee Garrett. “She’s a full-on competitor and she puts everything on the line.”
Growing up playing hockey and gymnastics, Scurfield dreamt of Olympic rings. However, it wasn’t until she got onto the pitch in Grade 9 while attending Banff Community High School that the magic started.
The first impression Garrett got of the young athlete with a rugby ball in hand was that she was “definitely going to go somewhere.”
“I told her that and her parents that, like, she has got a real future in this sport and hopefully she enjoys it enough that she wants to pursue it and thankfully she has,” he said.
Maya Russow, one of Scurfield’s rugby coaches who helped start the Banff girls program in 2011, said there was a little recruiting going on in the school hallways with the future Olympian. A student-athlete with the Banff Hockey Academy, hockey players like Scurfield always transition well into rugby, said Russow.
“At the time, her main focus was hockey so she didn’t want to risk injury,” said Russow, a teacher at BCHS. “But the first kick-off she caught the ball and ran the whole field to score a try and it never stopped. No one could keep up with her and she never let anyone past her, often crossing the field to take the poor opposing player down with precision in her tackling timing.”
At the 2019 high school provincials, Scurfield’s speed, power and awesome play generated a buzz.
“I was talking to another coach who offered 10 of his players in exchange for Krissy,” said Russow. “There were recruiters lining the field watching her hoping to get her at their universities as she was playing above a Grade 12 level and were shocked she was only in Grade 10 and still had so much opportunity for growth.”
To this day, Scurfield will return to Banff practices to help out the next crop of local girls on the pitch.
"I don’t even know if she realizes how big that is for people coming up in the sport," said Garrett. "For someone like myself, looking at where she is now, and for her to come back is so special and just really gives me admiration of her character."
Attending the University of Victoria, Scurfield was handpicked to start playing with the developmental Maple Leaf Academy in fall 2021, Rugby Canada’s NextGen program for exceptional upcoming female players.
The big talent from Canmore was quickly called up to the senior women’s national team a few months later to make her world series debut at 18 years old.
Women’s sevens head coach Jack Hanratty said Rugby Canada knew they had a “diamond” in Scurfield, during a January 2023 interview with the Outlook. He added she had a raw knowledge of the sport, but benefited greatly with a professional athlete mindset.
An overarching goal for the Canadians, despite having an average age of around 22 years old, is to not just participate in the Olympics, but hunt for a podium.
“We have a lot of work to do to get to that point, but it’s something that’s very achievable with our young team,” said Scurfield. “We have to put the work in each and every day to get that medal around our neck.”
At her age and experience level, Scurfield is looking to get in as much playing time as possible before Paris 2024. She acknowledged she hasn’t made the final Canadian roster yet; however, she’s taken the first big step in fulfilling a little girl’s childhood dream.
“There is a lot of steps to take to go to the Olympics and a lot more has to go the right way to get there, but I mean, it’s great to hit this milestone to qualify for the Olympics,” said Scurfield. “It’s a very, very real possibility that next year I will be there and I’m just very excited and very happy.”
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