The 2023 Canadian Observe and Subject Championships have arrived and are happening from Thursday by way of Sunday in Langley, B.C. The meet has attracted Canada’s high athletes, who’re desirous to vie for the coveted title of nationwide champion and safe their spots within the 2023 World Athletics Championships. Listed here are 4 races you don’t wish to miss this weekend.
Males’s 5,000m
Ben Flanagan and Jeremy Coughler have had appreciable success on the roads, however on Thursday evening, each males might be competing for the Canadian males’s 5,000m title on the observe. Coughler comes into the occasion with momentum, profitable the Canadian 10,000m title on the identical venue in June, plus he holds a private better of 13:37.69 for the 5,000m, achieved on the identical championships final yr. To safe a shot at worlds, Coughler will want a sub-13:30 time and a victory over his former highschool and college rival, Flanagan.
Flanagan has shifted his focus to the 5,000m this season, and his efforts have paid off. Simply final week, he secured a formidable victory within the 5,000m on the Oxy Invite in Los Angeles, clocking a formidable time of 13:20.13. This season, he has managed to interrupt the 13:20 mark on three separate events. Along with his present high 30 rating, Flanagan seems to be in an excellent place for choice within the males’s 5,000m at world championships, however a win on the Canadian Observe and Subject Championships would undoubtedly solidify his spot.
The boys’s 5,000m is scheduled to begin on Thursday evening at 8:50 p.m. native time and 11:50 p.m. E.T.
Ladies’s 3,000m steeplechase
Vancouver’s Ceili McCabe has been showcasing her dominance within the 3,000m steeplechase this season. Out of her six races at this distance, she has been victorious in 4 and arrives on the nationwide championships contemporary off a private better of 9:28.76, achieved throughout her win on the Harry Jerome Traditional simply two weeks in the past. Final yr, McCabe received the steeplechase title at nationals, securing her first senior championship on the younger age of 20.
Regan Yee holds a better rank than McCabe within the World Athletics rankings, however she has confronted defeat in opposition to McCabe of their final two encounters. Their showdown on the 2023 Harry Jerome Traditional noticed an exhilarating dash to the end within the 100m, with McCabe surging previous Yee after the ultimate barrier.
Among the many different notable athletes to keep watch over are Grace Fetherstonhaugh, who has had a breakout season at Oregon State College within the NCAA, claiming a convention title within the steeplechase, and 2020 Olympian Alycia Butterworth. Regardless of a while off in 2022, Butterworth has made a formidable comeback, registering a season’s better of 9:39.98 on the Harry Jerome Traditional, ending behind McCabe, Yee, and Fetherstonhaugh.
The ladies’s 3,000m steeplechase is scheduled to start on Thursday evening at 7:50 p.m. native time and 10:50 p.m. E.T.
Ladies’s 800m
Canadian middle-distance working is at the moment at its peak, and the ladies’s 800m subject is brimming with expertise, hinting at the potential of some spectacular instances. Notably, there are 10 girls with seed instances underneath 2:05. Moreover, with Vancouver’s Lindsey Butterworth absent and Lucia Stafford shifting her focus to the 1,500m, the 800m occasion appears extensive open for contenders to step up and seize the chance.
Pembroke, Ont.’s Madeleine Kelly has made a reputation for herself within the 800m on the Canadian Observe and Subject Championships. Kelly has received two of the final three Canadian 800m titles (profitable in 2019 and 2022) over a formidable subject. In 2022, Kelly broke the two-minute barrier on two events, which earned her a Staff Canada spot on the 2022 World Athletics Championships, however she’s had blended outcomes in the course of the the 2023 season. She continues to be awaiting a breakthrough efficiency and desires a win at nationals to punch her ticket to Budapest.
Kelly’s former College of Toronto teammate and present coaching associate, Jazz Shukla, has solely gotten higher since her return to the 800m in 2022. Shukla holds the quickest time within the subject this yr, together with her 2:00.84 clocking on the Portland Observe Traditional in June. Shukla has not misplaced within the 800m domestically this season and vying to make her first senior world championship workforce.
A darkish horse for the win is Toronto’s Aurora Rynda, who has had a profitable five-year stint on the College of Michigan, setting faculty information within the 600 and 800m occasions. Rynda has a private finest of two:02.55 and is usually a risk to win, if it comes right down to a dash.
The heats of the ladies’s 800m start on Thursday evening, with the semi-finals happening Friday, with the finals on Saturday at 8 p.m. native time and 11 p.m. E.T.
Males’s 100m
All of the distinguished names in Canadian sprinting are in Langley to set the stage for one of many deepest nationals 100m fields up to now 5 years. Aaron Brown boasts a formidable document within the 100m and 200m on the Canadian Observe and Subject Championships, profitable the final 4 titles in each 100 and 200 occasions. Brown has been constant this season, and is likely one of the finest sprinters on the planet out of the blocks. Whereas he has already achieved the world championship customary within the 200m, a victory within the 100m would improve his rating forward of Budapest.
Brown enters the competitors because the favorite within the 100m. Nonetheless, Canadian observe followers have been eagerly awaiting Andre De Grasse’s return to peak type. Whereas De Grasse has displayed promising outcomes this season, he has but to achieve the identical ranges of efficiency seen on the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. To date, he has not dipped underneath 10.10 seconds within the 100m or 20.20 seconds within the 200m, one thing he had nearly develop into accustomed to in earlier seasons. It’s been a month since De Grasse has final competed, and his health would be the query mark heading into the championships.
Jerome Blake, who’s Brown’s and De Grasse’s 4x100m relay teammate, comes into the championships with the third-fastest seed time. Blake achieved 10.08 seconds in his season opener in April, however he hasn’t managed one other sub-10.10 clocking since then. One other standout within the subject is Usheoritse Itsekiri, a Nigerian sprinter residing and coaching in Regina; Itsekiri holds the quickest time within the 100m subject at 10.02 seconds, achieved on the Nigerian Athletics Championships in early July. Impressively, he has received all 10 of his earlier 100m races on Canadian soil this season whereas persistently delivering sub-10.10 performances. Nonetheless, as Itsekiri competes for Nigeria internationally, he stays ineligible for Canadian championship prizing.
Regina sprinter breaks CTFL 100m document with 10.02 clocking
The boys’s 100m kicks off on Friday afternoon at 5:10 p.m. native time and eight:10 p.m. E.T., with the finals happening later that night, at 10:40 p.m. E.T.
You may view the total schedule of occasions on the championships right here.
Learn how to watch
The 2023 Canadian Observe & Subject Championships might be broadcasted stay (for a price) from Langley, B.C. Thursday by way of Sunday, July 27-30 on AthleticsCanada.television.
