Athletics stars on track for Pan Am Games after national championships
They ran, jumped and threw their way onto the podium in Edmonton, Alberta at the Athletics Canada Track and Field Championships.
Competition highlights featured top finishes from Olympians, Canadian record holders and TO2015 team members as several of these athletes will be representing the nation at the Pan Am Games this summer.
Day 1
Olympians Cam Levins (13:51.34) and Mohammed Ahmed (13:52.84) topped the podium in the men’s 5,000m finishing first and second.
Canadian women’s marathon record holder Lanni Merchant made her way onto the track for the women’s 5,000m. Merchant ran 16:21.76 finishing second behind Nicole Sifuentes (16:17.32).
Full results from Athletics Canada’s Track and Field Championships
Day 2
Many were excited to see what Andre De Grasse would do in the men’s 100m. De Grasse did not disappoint running sub-10 seconds for the first time on home soil in 9.95s to win. Olympians Aaron Brown (10.13s) and Justyn Warner (10.16s) finished second and third respectively.
Related: De Grasse breaks national record and 10-second barrier
Day 3
Combined events Olympians captured gold in competitive sprint hurdles fields on day three. Decathlete Damian Warner won 110m hurdles in 13.27s, while heptahlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton ran 13.06s to win the 100m hurdles.
A new Canadian record was set in the women’s 10,000m race walk by Olympian Rachel Seaman who finished in 44:16.98.
Canadian record holder Sultana Frizell won women’s hammer with a launch of 70.97m. Derek Drouin also added to the gold medal haul for Olympians, clearing 2.34m to win men’s high jump.
Day 4
Canadian record holder Shawn Barber entertained the crowd during men’s pole vault, jumping 5.60m to take down the championship record. On the track, Brown added to his medal count winning the men’s 200m dash in 20.11s.
Olympians Melissa Bishop (2:08.60) and Jessica Smith (2:08.81) battled to the end in the women’s 800m, finishing second and third behind rising star Fiona Benson who ran 2:08.52 to win gold.
Athletics at the Pan Am Games will begin with women’s marathon on July 18 and run until July 25. The marathons and race walking events will take place in downtown Toronto near Ontario Place, while all other events are at the Pan Am Athletics Stadium in York University.
