For the second World U20 Championships in a row, three ladies of the Ottawa Lions have been named to represent Team Canada. The Championships, which run July 10-15 in Tampere, Finland, will include Keira Christie-Galloway, Lauren Gale and Sharelle Samuel.
This will be Christie-Galloway’s second U20 and third world championship overall after finishing 39th in the 100m hurdles two years ago in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The University of Ottawa student, who broke the school record indoors as a freshman, has carried that success outdoors including a new Canadian junior record last week. While Christie-Galloway is currently ranked 16th globally according to the IAAF, she would be seeded sixth going into the event, after allowing a maximum of two American entries.
While Gale and Samuel both have international experience from last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games Team, this will be the first global championship for both. Gale will compete in the 200m following a personal best performance of 23.96 seconds at the Colorado State 4A Championships earlier this month.
Samuel will contest the 400m, an event she finished fourth in at last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games. The Ashbury student has a seasonal best of 53.77 seconds following her win at the OFSAA Championships just two weeks ago.
Both Samuel and Gale could also figure into a Canadian 4x400m relay team as the duo are currently ranked second and third respectively in the 400m. Canada is the defending bronze medalists in the relay, and should include two returning members from the 2016 team.
