Meet the late racecar driver’s daughter who runs track for Canada at the Paris Olympics

Maddy Price grew up an adrenaline junkie.

Some of it stemmed from her father, Shawn Price, who supplemented his business career by racing cars. When Maddy was young, she watched her dad win the GT class at the 2005 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Part of her drive came from competing with her younger sister, Nikky, also an accomplished athlete from a young age.

“Maddy honestly just loved having the adrenaline that came with speed,” Nikky Price said. “She also loved having the challenge. I think she’s always liked trying to push herself more and more.”

By pushing herself continually, Maddy Price earned a spot on the Duke track and field team in 2014 and now, the Canadian Olympic team.

During her four-year stint at Duke, Maddy Price etched her name into several record books including running the second-fastest, 400-meter run time in Duke history and setting a new Duke record in the 800 relay.

“It was really special to have an environment and have a team that was so supportive at Duke,” Maddy Price said. “I had big goals in college and achieved some amazing things while I was a collegiate athlete, but I had goals beyond collegiate athletics as well.”

Despite her long list of accomplishments as a Blue Devil, Maddy Price also learned several life lessons that have been valuable to her off the track, including asking for help and leaning on the support systems around her.

Before Shawn Price passed away of cancer in 2016, he was Maddy’s hype person, her first call before a big race and the person she trusted to get her in the right headspace.

For the Price sisters, losing their dad was formative in many ways, but looking back, it’s what made them closer than ever.

“We went through such a hard loss at such a young age as sisters,” Nikky Price said. “I think it’s hard for us not to be each other’s biggest inspiration after that. She is the embodiment of strength to me. I feel like we step up every single day and are really strong, we are just like rocks.”

With the support of her mom and sister, Maddy Price has been able to compete at an extremely high level for the past few years. She made her Olympic debut with the Canadian team during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

During the competition, Maddy Price ran the second leg of the 1,600-meter relay, helping her team finish fourth in the final – missing the podium by just six-tenths of a second.

“Reflecting back on that, it was a race where we all left everything we had out there,” Maddy Price said. “We almost broke the Canadian record, we would have medaled in almost every Olympics, like it was so special to run with those girls.”

Six years after graduating, Maddy still lives in Durham and occasionally helps to coach the track team at Duke.

Maddy Price has continued to train with her former coach, Mark Mueller, and teammate, Lauren Hoffman. Both Hoffman and Mueller remain instrumental in Maddy Price’s journey to her second Olympics.

“Coach Muller talks about how the Olympic creed isn’t to have won or conquered, but to have fought well,” Maddy Price said. “That’s something he really instilled in me – just fight, compete hard and that’s all you can do. Having a coach and someone who’s that supportive at Duke and in North Carolina has been really special.”

On August 9, all of Maddy’s preparation will be put to the test in the first round of competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

For Nikky, watching Maddy compete at the Olympic level is both a privilege and the most nerve-wracking experience. Regardless of whether or not Maddy comes home with a medal, Nikky is proud of her journey and resilience so far.

“The journey of her getting there and the journey of her getting to the Olympics is the most beautiful thing,” Nikky said. “She’s trying to love the journey and I think she has learned to love the ups and downs and realize it’s not linear.”

Both Nikky Price and her mom will be in Paris next week, cheering Maddy Price on every step of the way.

Despite having been on the Olympic stage before, this will be their first time seeing her compete in person due to the COVID restrictions of the 2020 games.

“As a kid, you dream about the Olympics and about your family, your coach and the people that got you there being there with you because it’s such a special opportunity for them to experience as well,” Maddy Price said. “I think having them there for me is something I’m really looking forward to.”

While Maddy Price’s eyes are set on a gold for her team, there’s a big part of her that still competes for the little girl who loved to run – to fulfill the need for an adrenaline rush and to push herself even more.

“As runners, we’re really grateful to run in circles and I think about that all the time,” Maddy Price said. “We’re just turning left and running as fast as we can and how cool is that? That we get to do that for our job and we get to do that on a world stage and represent our countries.”

Maya Waid is a student with UNC Media Hub, a program with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, reporting from the Summer Olympics in Paris.