Two years after his fifth place finish at 2011 World University Games in Shenzen, China, Oluwasegun Makinde was looking move up a couple notches on the results page today, with his eyes set on a medal. Entering the final with the fourth fastest time, he was certainly in contention, although running from lane seven meant he couldn’t see the majority of his competitors. As Makinde came off the corner and headed for home he was in a dead heat for third with the Japanese competitor, Shota IIzuka. Izuka would pull ahead of him in the final 100m leaving Makinde to out duel his compatriot, Brendon Rodney for fourth. The University of Ottawa student crossed the line in a windy 20.61 seconds and had just one comment about his race to friends and family on his Facebook page, “So close.”
From yesterday’s competition, 25 year old Patrick Arbour finished up the decathlon with a score of 7240 points to finish in 8th place overall. It was an up an down second day for the Canadian silver medalist as he won the discus with a best throw of 47.64m, but had his lowest vault of the season at 4.20m and finished up with a 5:08.00 1500m. Like Makinde, Arbour took to Facebook following the competition, saying only, “Disappointing finish. Time to Rest.” The next decathlon for Arbour will take place in late August as he competes in the Woerden International in Holland as a warm up to participating in September’s Francophone Games in Nice, France.
Next up for the Ottawa Lions in Kazan is Michael Robertson, who will be competing in his second World University Games. The University of Ottawa graduate student was a late addition to the national team, and is expected to run on either of the 4x100m or 4x400m relays and possibly both. If on the 4x100m squad, he would be joined by Makinde.
You can watch all of the action from the track live online at LIVE FISU TV
