Team Canada’s Newman, Arop and Mitton set to take on the Diamond League Final
For Team Canada’s top track and field athletes, the season keeps on going beyond the Closing Ceremony of Paris 2024.
The last big hurrah of the outdoor track and field season will take place this weekend at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Belgium. The event is the grand finale of the season-long series, which includes 15 meets around the world.
Athletes qualify for the Final by accumulating points over the course of the series, ensuring that only the top talent take to the stadium for the Final. Three Canadians will compete in the “crown jewel of athletics”–Marco Arop in the men’s 800m, Alysha Newman in the women’s pole vault, and Sarah Mitton in the women’s shot put. The Olympic medal haul for athletes competing in Brussels stands at over 100, two of those owned by Arop and Newman.
Diamond League champions also earn a wildcard spot for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, which will take place in Tokyo, Japan.
Sarah Mitton – Women’s Shot Put
Sarah Mitton did not have the Paris 2024 result that she had envisioned for herself. The Canadian entered the Games ranked second in the world, and the reigning indoor world champion and outdoor world championship silver medallist was heavily favoured to end up on the podium. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Mitton threw the farthest of the field in the qualification round, but rainy conditions during the final gave the Canadian record holder some trouble. Her first two throws in the slippery ring fell far short of her best, and Mitton was unable to keep herself from slipping out of the circle on her final attempt, fouling out on her furthest throw. The Nova Scotian athlete demonstrated her signature grace in defeat, supporting her fellow competitors for the duration of the competition.
A strong result at the Diamond League Final would be a positive way to end a bittersweet season for Mitton. Her personal best is 20.86m, set earlier this year, which also stands as the Canadian record.
The women’s shot put competition will take place on Friday September 13, at 11:43 a.m. ET.
Marco Arop – Men’s 800m
It has been a season to remember for Marco Arop. The 25-year-old reigning world champion raced to a silver medal in the men’s 800m at Paris 2024, finishing a hair’s breadth away from gold by one-hundredth of a second. His finishing time of 1:41.20 was a 1.65-second personal best, and a new Canadian record. It made the Canadian the fourth-fastest man in the history of the 800m.
The men’s 800m field is inching closer and closer to David Rudisha’s world record, which for years has seemed untouchable. Rudisha ran 1:40.91 in the Olympic final at London 2012. Prior to the 2024 season, 18 of the 20 fastest times were run before 2013, and no athlete had run sub 1:42 since the race in which Rushida claimed the record.
But this year has witnessed several athletes dipping below 1:42, including Arop, on multiple occasions. Arop’s biggest competition in the Diamond League Final will be Paris 2024 gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyoni of Kenya. The two athletes have been battling all season, trading places on the top of the podium.
Just last week Arop clocked a new Canadian record in the 1000m, an off-distance that is not a part of the Olympic programme, proving that he is still fit and ready to mix things up at the end of a long season.
The men’s 800m competition will take place at 3:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 14.
Alysha Newman – Women’s Pole Vault
Alysha Newman is also coming off of a stellar performance at Paris 2024, snagging a bronze medal in the women’s pole vault and besting her own Canadian record along the way. Her new record now stands at 4.85m.
Newman’s medal marked Canada’s first Olympic pole vault medal in 112 years – and the first ever by a female pole vaulter.
The Canadian has continued her momentum post-Paris, vaulting to a silver medal at the penultimate Diamond League event of the season in Zurich, Switzerland in early September. The Final in Brussels will feature Paris 2024 gold medallist Australian Nina Kennedy. American Sandi Morris boasts the highest personal best of the field at 5.00m.
The women’s pole vault will take place at 1:51 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 14.
