She’s baaack! While Melissa Bishop-Nriagu had already opened her 2019 campaign two weeks prior with a new club record in the 1500 metres, Friday night’s return to her speciality – the 800 metres – felt more real.
Bishop-Nriagu, who sat out the 2018 season after giving birth to her daughter Corinne, looked as though she had not lost a step as she broke the Speed River Inferno meet record with her winning time of 2:01.10. However, her competitive drive prompted mixed feelings about the result.
“I haven’t raced in two years, so I can’t be all that upset with it, but I obviously have very high expectations of myself,” the four time Canadian champion told her Instagram followers. “I have full confidence in myself that I will get back to (1:57 form) very shortly but I have to kind of bust the rust.”
Next up for Bishop-Nriagu will be the Harry Jerome Classic June 20th in Burnaby, BC where she quipped, “hopefully it will be faster than this one.”
Bishop-Nriagu was just one half of a Lions sweep of the 800 metres in Guelph as Stephen Evans captured the men’s race in one minute and 49.61 seconds. The USports 600 metre champion utilized a late surge to overtake 2015 Canadian Champion Corey Bellemore, who eventually fell to third in the final standings. Evans was quite excited by the victory, saying after the race, “I’m telling you, Canada’s got to be careful because I’m coming up big next!”
In the 100 metre hurdles event, Devyani Biswal took seventh in a time of 13.93 seconds. The former USports champion was content with the result, saying, “I’ve been working through an injury for about a month, so it was nice to get back on the track and race.”
