YORK STUDENT Shane Niemi is a soft-spoken affable guy. Sitting in the Second Cup, his yellow ball cap pulled backward on his head, it's hard to imagine his lanky 6'2" frame coming out of the blocks fast enough to set a Canadian indoor record (32.95 seconds) in the 300 metres.

Niemi, a first-year York kinesiology and health science student, is now ranked fourth in the world in the 300 metres indoor event. His record (shattering the old best of 33.40 seconds held by sprinter Alexandre Marchand) is the fastest time in the indoor 300 since 1998, and possibly in the last decade.

BC born-and-bred, Niemi came to Toronto only recently to follow his coach and enrolled at York. He credits his win in part to the indoor facilities available for training here on York's campus (the Toronto Track and Field Centre). In Vancouver, where he lived until last year, finding the right training venue was always a problem ­ not to mention Vancouver's infamous rainfall.

Although only 23, as a member of Canada's national team, track has taken Niemi places most of us could only dream of at his age ­ Chile, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain. His sponsorship by Nike, and being a carded athlete, also help pay the bills, he says.