'This is everything': Canadian hurdler Metivier set for last attempt at Paris Olympic berth

The pressure is heavy, but the opportunity is massive for Malik Metivier.

The Toronto hurdler will be competing at the Canadian track and field Olympic trials from Wednesday through Sunday in Montreal.

Saturday will be the 25-year-old Metivier's final shot at meeting the Olympic standard of 48.70 seconds in the 400-metre hurdles to go to Paris next month.

"You know [how] extreme hot and extreme cold, the burns feel the same? It's like that," he said. "The level of pressure has just been so high I almost start to just feel numb, you know? It made me turn to God a lot more.

"Right now, I'm just loving it. Every day feels almost like life or death because the Olympics, that's how you make your money. I'll really be able to set up the next four years financially with just qualifying. Without doing that, it's going to be way more difficult.

"For me, this is everything."

Metivier was a silver medallist at the 2022 NCAA championships in the men's 400 hurdles in his senior year at Texas Tech before encountering a string of bad luck.

A pulled hamstring at Canadian trials caused him to miss the 2022 world championships and at the Commonwealth Games, he was disqualified from the final for a false start.

Metivier has been battling injuries since then. He was diagnosed with a fracture in his right foot in February 2023 but couldn't leave the United States until his visa to train there was processed. In order for Athletics Canada to cover the surgery and rehab, it had to be done in Canada.

Metivier got his visa in October but was told by surgeons that he no longer needed surgery because the bone had largely healed by then.

He joined coach Kurt Downes in Windsor, Ont., to begin the process of training and rehab in preparation for a run