With 2023 set to wind down we will be taking some time to look back on the year that was over these remaining days.
Ask any track and field athlete their personal best is and they are likely to rhyme it off to you before you even uttering the question. It is the key measuring stick for performance improvement and in 2023, we saw lots of improvement!
More than 800 athletes registered a performance in competition over the past 12 months and an astounding 624 of them recorded a new personal best in at least one event. Combined, they amassed a total of 2181 personal best performances in 2023.
Looking at the ten athletes with the most personal bests in 2023, there are a few similarities among the group. Kyle Waldrum led the list with an incredible total of 16 personal best performances this year. Among the contributing factors was Waldrum’s engagement in the decathlon – an event in which he placed ninth in at the Canadian U20 Championships this summer.
Kyle was one of three combined events athletes among our top-10 in 2023 for personal bests. University of Ottawa students Thomas Kukla-Colby and Kathryn Moreland each found their way onto the list with a total of 13 and 12 personal bests respectively.
Table 1 – Top 10 List of Personal Bests by Athlete in 2023
| Rank | Name | # of Personal Bests |
| 1 | Kyle Waldrum | 16 |
| 2 | Augustine Uche | 15 |
| 3 | Jacqueline Aubin | 13 |
| 3 | Mason Brennan | 13 |
| 3 | Thomas Kukla-Colby | 13 |
| 6 | Connor Rennie | 12 |
| 6 | Kathryn Moreland | 12 |
| 6 | Moise Sebakunzi | 12 |
| 9 | Dylan Dignard | 11 |
| 9 | Grace Streek | 11 |
Among event groups, the sprints saw the most personal bests in 2023, with 892 in total. Not too surprisingly, the largest share came from in the 100 metres with 220. The seldom run 500 and 60 metre events occupied the smallest share with just 38 and 87 personal bests respectively.
Chart 1. Personal Bests by Event Group
The next highest total of personal bests came from those in the middle distance events. These events include everything from 600 to 3000 metres but excludes the steeplechase. Nearly half of the new lifetime bests were set in either the 800 and 1500 metres with each event producing 110 personal bests during 2023.
Surprisingly, an indoor distance led the way for personal bests among the hurdle events. A total of 95 personal bests were set over the 60 metre hurdles in 2023.
The jumps was more concentrated as the long jump produced 163 of the 258 personal bests in 2023. Next on the list was the high jump with 48 PBs.
Shot put topped the throwing events with 84 personal bests, while the 2000 metre steeplechase and 5km led long distance and road running events respectively.
Rounding out the list, Lions athletes produced five new personal bests in the pentathlon and another three in each of the heptathlon and decathlon respectively.