It’s been a busy and highly successful week for Glebe Collegiate grade 11 student Claire Smith. How else would you characterize a week that included a World Junior Championship standard, provincial championship, Ontario record and Canadian record!
While Smith’s gold and silver performances at this past weekend’s OFSAA championships have already been discussed, it wasn’t until last night we discovered Claire’s 9:35.39 3000m was in fact a new Canadian Youth Record. The mark took nearly a second and a half off the old record of 9:36.77 set by New Brunswick’s Genevieve Lalonde in 2008.
Following her successful weekend, Smith decided to try her hand over 5000m at last night’s Twilight Meet. With the goal of bettering Athletics Canada’s standard of 16:40, Claire opened up with successive kilometres of 3:18, 3:16, 3:16 and 3:18 before crossing the line in 16:31.88 to set the global standard and establish a new Ontario best for 18 year olds, all while celebrating her 17th birthday .
This is only latest in a breakthrough year for Claire that has so far included an individual bronze and team gold at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Cross Country Championships as well as a gold medal at the recent Youth Olympic trials in Florida.
