As we prepare to say goodbye to 2021, we take one final pause to look back at the top performances of the year gone by. While the Canada had next to no indoor season in ’21, the performances outdoor more than made up for it as Lions athletes prepared for the Tokyo Olympics and captured the Ontario U20 team title for the first time since 2014. To identify the best performances of the year, the IAAF Scoring Tables for Athletics were utilized identify the top 20 performances for both men and women.
Making her third Olympic team in 2021, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu once again topped the female charts with her 1 minutes and 58.36 second clocking at a Sunset Tour event in early July. The victory in the California capital was worth an impressive 1192 points, 22 better than the second best performance of the year – also belonging to Bishop-Nriagu in the form of a new Club record at 1500m.
Rounding out the top three performances on the women’s side was fellow Olympian Lauren Gale. The Colorado State University senior’s 51.96 second run at the NCAA West Preliminary helped secure her spot on the Canadian 4×400 metre relay team and was worth 1128 points. Gale also racked up top performances in the 60, 100, and 200 metre events.
The third and final Lions Olympian in 2021 was shot putter Tim Nedow, who topped the men’s side yet again. Nedow’s Olympic qualifying performance of 21.11 metres to win an early season meet in Pennsylvania was worth an impressive 1187 points on the IAAF Tables.
Posting the second best performance was the man who posted the second best time in Club history for 800 metres – Stephen Evans. Running at an American Track League event in Memphis, Evans stopped the clock at 1 minute and 48.28 seconds to amass 1076 points. Evans also topped 1000 points for 1000 metres in his recent season opener at the York Lions open back on December 4.
The complete listing of top performances is included below. As we have done previously, athletes could only score once per event.
Women
1. Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, 800m, 1:58.36 – 1192 points
2. Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, 1500m, 4:04.42 – 1170 points
3. Lauren Gale, 400m, 51.96 – 1128 points
4. Lauren Gale, 200m, 23.15 – 1118 points
5. Farah Jacques, 100m Hurdles, 13.28 – 1111 points
6. Keira Christie-Galloway, 60m Hurdles, 8.31i – 1091 points
7. Keira Christie-Galloway, 100m Hurdles, 13.51 – 1082 points
8. Maeliss Trapeau, 800m, 2:04.72 – 1079 points
9. Lauren Gale, 55m, 6.94i – 1067 points
10. Lauren Gale, 100m, 11.67 – 1058 points
11. Farah Jacques, 200m, 24.26 – 1011 points
12. Alexandra Telford, 400m Hurdles, 1:00.35 – 1011 points
13. Farah Jacques, 100m, 11.95 – 1001 points
14. Alexandra Telford, 400m, 55.79 – 984 points
15. Madison Clarke, 800m, 2:10.94 – 975 points
16. Kathryn Manor, 60m, 7.74i – 975 points
17. Devyani Biswal, 100m Hurdles, 14.39 – 969 points
18. Madison Clarke,Helena Jovic,Alexandra Telford,Doyin Ogunremi, 4x400m, 3:52.44 – 957 points
19. Helena Jovic, 400m Hurdles, 1:02.27 – 956 points
20. Doyin Ogunremi, 300m, 40.15 – 949 points
Men
1. Tim Nedow, Shot Put, 21.11 – 1187 points
2. Stephen Evans, 800m, 1:48.28 – 1076 points
3. Phillip Frank, Heptathlon, 5385i – 1008 points
4. Stephen Evans, 1000m, 2:26.09i – 1004 points
5. Leewinchell Jean, 400m Hurdles, 52.86 – 992 points
6. Bertwin Ben-Smith, 100m, 10.73 – 967 points
7. Bertwin Ben-Smith, 200m, 21.80 – 952 points
8. Thomas Nedow, Discus, 53.74 – 945 points
9. Thomas Nedow, Shot Put, 16.93 – 938 points
10. Kevin Robertson, Mile, 4:15.90i – 934 points
11. Phillip Frank, Long Jump, 7.04i – 931 points
12. Luca Nicoletti, 200m, 21.97 – 929 points
12. Owen Day, 800m, 1:55.65i – 922 points
13. David Adeleye, 110m Hurdles, 14.84 – 920 points
14. Saj Al-Haddad, 400m Hurdles, 54.53 – 916 points
15. Bertwin Ben-Smith, 300m, 35.49i – 913 points
16. Stephen Evans, 400m, 49.18 – 907 points
17. Luca Nicoletti,Leewinchell Jean,Fabrice Nonez,David Moulongou, 4x100m, 42.40 – 907 points
18. Owen Day, Mile, 4:18.57i – 902 points
19. Yasser Riad, 1000m, 2:31.26i – 896 points
20. Ryan Thomsen, Decathlon, 6486 – 894 points