Reece Langdon delivers right on time for bronze in Paris

How many professional athletes can say their career began by doing a daily mail run on the family farm?

It's a unique way to begin a life in track and field but it’s exactly how Paralympic T38 1500m bronze medallist Reece Langdon started his long journey to Paris 2024 and his first ever Paralympic Games.

Reece was one of 122 Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athletes to make the trip to Paris across both the Olympics and Paralympics and says he savoured every moment of his first Games.

The 28-year-old had experienced the Paris crowd a year earlier at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships and although that helped him acclimatise to the French summer, the atmosphere was on another level.

'We had a French guy in my race who got announced and when he did, the crowd just erupted. It was deafening, it was that loud. So yeah, that's an experience I'll never forget.'

In a tight and exciting race, Reece was pipped at the line for the silver medal, claiming third place behind Tunisian Amen Allah Tissaoui and Canadian Nate Riech.

'It was getting a little bit like push and shove in there. Obviously, it being a slow race, that's just normal.

'We almost got up for the silver, I mean 0.01. It's probably a margin you're used to seeing in a 100-metre race. But still very proud to come away with a bronze medal.'

Reece’s bronze was one of 23 medals won by VIS athletes in Paris, including 5 gold medals. For the middle-distance runner, Paris 2024 was the culmination of a long build up.

Born in Goulburn, Reece grew up on a family farm and with the mailbox more than a kilometre away, it proved to be the ideal way to start running, as Reece explained.

'Whenever I was really bored, obviously living on a farm, there's not much to do. Our mailbox was roughly about 2 kilometres away and I would just run down and get the mail and come back.

'To my parent’s surprise, to be able to tell them "I’ve got the mail," as a 10-year-old kid, they thought that was very funny.'

Despite these beginnings, Reece didn’t consider a career in track field until he was much older, with running remaining a hobby as he grew up.

'I trained for soccer as a kid and running was something I just did for fun. I never got a coach or anything at that age,' Reece said.

The move to professionalism came when Reece turned 17 as his family left the farm in Goulburn for Canberra. A coincidental landing spot down the road from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) proved to be a catalyst.

'I told my dad one day after school, "Could you drop me at the AIS track and pick me up in a couple of hours?" Had no idea who the coaches were or anything like that.

'I just walked up, introduced myself, and said I really like doing the 400 metres. That person who I introduced myself to was Matt Beckenham, and he was an athletics coach and Olympian himself over the 400-metre hurdles.'

From Reece’s first fortuitous training sessions at the AIS, it still took a few years before he settled on his pet events as a middle-distance runner, with the 800 and 1500m races becoming his true calling.

A later move to Melbourne brought Reece into the VIS fold and he can’t speak highly enough of what the institute has done to support his career.

'The VIS has been amazing. From the day I was driving to Melbourne, I had Nicky Frey (Athletics Australia/VIS Performance Advisor) contact me immediately to get me setup with all the different coaches and services that the VIS can offer.

'Overall, I’m seeing the physios, the sport psych, the massage therapists, I’m seeing a wide range of different people there. Without their support it would be very tough to have made it to where I am.'

Supported by the Victorian Government, the VIS helps develop and support Victorian athletes through resources, services and facilities, enabling them to pursue and achieve excellence in sport at the highest level.

More than 500 athletes and Para athletes across 45 sports are supported by the VIS with the organisation helping build a proud history of success for Victorians competing at the highest level.

Recognising the vital role the VIS plays in nurturing the state’s top athletes, the Victorian Government allocated an additional $32.7 million in funding over the next 4 years in the 2024-25 State Budget.

This funding will help support the expansion of VIS programs and service, adding to existing base funding, bringing total investment in the VIS to $58.2 million over the next 4 years.