The 2021 Trials in Montreal kicked off Friday night with a silver medal at 800 metres for Melissa Bishop-Nriagu.The two-time Olympian hit the Olympic standard of 1:59.50 dead on Friday night at the Claude-Robillard Stadium, marking the third time she’s made the mark this season.
From the moment the gun went off, Bishop-Nriagu made a bee line for the front of the pack and comfortably lead the field through splits of 57 seconds and 1:28 for 400 and 600 metres respectively. The four-time Canadian champion entered the home stretch with her sights on making it five golds, but British Columbia’s Lindsay Butterworth, who had spent most of the race in third, was able to find another gear in the final 100 and was able to pass Bishop-Nriagu to take gold.
“I think it was good. The conditions really cleared up for us, and I already have Olympic standard, so this is an opportunity for me to get out and try something new and we did,” said Bishop-Nriagu of her race and tactics.
Next up in her Olympic preparation, Melissa will head to Europe to race in the Monaco and London Diamond League events before leaving for Tokyo. Bishop-Nriagu set her Canadian record of 1:57.01 in Monaco in 2017.
In the men’s 800 metres, the results largely played out according to the pre-race seeds, with Stephen Evans running 1:50.23 to finish fourth. It was the highest finish at the Canadian Championships for the 24 year old.
You can find full race videos of both 800 metre finals on our Instagram.
The Trials continue today with Farah Jacques contesting the 100 metre hurdles at 1pm. Catch all the action live on AthleticsCanada.tv and use the code: BellTrials