Canada’s deepest, most talented
pool of track and field athletes
ever set to compete in Edmonton
EDMONTON – The Road to Rio is crowded with talented Canadians who
will all be at the Canadian Track and Field Championships and Selection Trials
this weekend to punch their tickets to the 2016 Summer Olympics and
Paralympics in Brazil.
Led by the likes of sprinters Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown, and 2015
world champions Shawn Barber (pole vault) and Derek Drouin (high jump),
the lineup of athletes from July 7-10 at Foote Field may be the deepest
and most talented ever at a Canadian Trials.
“The 2016 Trials are shaping up to be the best in our history, with more than
70 athletes entering with the Olympic standard, and 15 with the Paralympic standard,”
said Peter Eriksson, Athletics Canada Head Coach and Chief Technical Officer.
“The depth and level of competition will serve the athletes well as they enter
their Rio final preparation phase.”
The high points that Edmonton track and field fans can look forward to this weekend include:
- De Grasse, Canada’s 2015 breakout sprint star, going head-to-head with Brown in
- the men’s 100 and 200-metre dashes. Brown had his own breakthrough at a Florida meet
- in June, posting a best time of 9.96 seconds to serve notice Canada has two sub-10-second
- sprinters heading to Rio.
- A high jump duel between Drouin, the 2015 world champion, and Mike Mason, who pushed
- his Canadian rival at last year’s Canadian Track and Field Championships, also held at
- Foote Field.
- Melissa Bishop, the 800-metre runner who won silver at the 2015 World’s in dramatic fashion,
- has twice run sub-1:59.00 times this season, promising results in an Olympic year.
- The 100-metre hurdles will be intensely competitive, with specialists Nikkita Holder
- and Phylicia George being pushed by heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton.
- Edmonton’s Angela Whyte will also be in the 100-metre hurdle mix. Whyte,
- whose first major international competition for Canada was the 2001 World Championships
- in Athletics at Commonwealth Stadium, has a serious shot at qualifying for her third
- Olympic Games at 36 years of age.
- In the field events, javelin thrower Elizabeth Gleadle is looking to improve on
- the 11th-place finish at 2015 World’s. Long jumper Christabel Nettey was a strong fourth
- in Beijing in 2015.
- All-around athletes Brianne Theisen-Eaton (heptathlon) and Damian Warner (decathlon),
- both won silver medals at the 2015 World’s and brought home gold from the prestigious
- Hypo Meet in Gotzis, Austria in May.
- Headlining the field of Paralympians is Guillaume Ouellet, who won gold in the 5,000-metres
- in dramatic fashion in the heat and humidity of Doha, Qatar at the 2015
- International Paralympic Committee World Championships.
- In wheelchair racing look for Michelle Stilwell (T52 classification) and Diane Roy
- (T54 classification). Stilwell won gold and silver at the 2012 London Games,
- and a pair of gold medals in Beijing 2008. Diane Roy has 5 Paralympic Games
- medals to her name, and won gold and bronze at the Parapan Am Games in Toronto
- last summer.
- In wheelchair throws Pamela LeJean and Becky Richter are IPC and Parapan Am medallists
If you can’t make it to Foote Field AthleticsCanada.tv has you covered with a free live webcast
of the event beginning on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. MT / 1:00 p.m. ET. The live webcast is
also available through Athletics Canada’s new mobile app.
For ticket information, fans should visit TrackTownCan.com.
Tickets also can be purchased at the Foote Field box office.
No comments:
Post a Comment