“Wow” was all anyone could say when Joari Oppong-Nketiah crossed the finish line of the U20 women’s 100-metre semi-finals Friday night at Montreal’s Centre Sportif Claude Robillard. When the scoreboard flashed her winning time of 11.38 seconds, a collective gasp was let out as the 16-year-old did what no Canadian teenage woman had ever done at the national championships – run under 11.50 seconds.
The Louis-Riel student’s performance is the second fastest ever by a Canadian teenager, behind the great Angela Bailey, whose national U20 record of 11.21 seconds has stood since 1981.
By the time the final rolled around two hours later, the sun had faded under the night sky, and the temperatures had dropped a few degrees. Oppong-Nketiah didn’t let that stop her from bringing the heat, as she followed up her championship record with another sterling time of 11.39 seconds, despite running into a slight headwind.
“When I’m under pressure, I tend to run better and faster and harder,” said Oppong-Nketiah about her championship performance. “I worked on my starts. I think my start had a huge impact on the outcome of my race.”
For Bianca Borgella, she booked her ticket to Paris for this summer’s Paralympic Games after a commanding victory in the Para Ambulatory 100 metres. After warming up with a 16th place finish in the open women’s 100 metres, Borgella ran past her fellow ambulatory competitors with ease, crossing the line in 12.20 seconds – half a second ahead of silver medalist Sheriane Hause.
A double medalist at last year’s World Para Athletics Championship in Paris, Borgella will be looking to improve her T13 100-metre bronze to something a little more golden when the finals roll around on the evening of September 3. What won’t be on Borgella’s Paris schedule is the 200 metres, as they are not being offered for the T13 category at the Games.
A year ago, Connor Fraser entered the U20 discus competition as the favourite to take home gold but failed to make it out of the opening rounds. One year later, and up an age category, he is leaving the Canadian Championships as the second-best discus thrower in the country following a personal best throw of 50.57 metres.
Fraser initially put himself in the silver medal position following a second-round personal best of 50.18 metres. However, in the final round, Quebec’s Vladimir Tocari stepped into the circle and hurled the 2-kilogram platter out to 50.53 metres, forcing the Carleton University student to respond.
“What my coach Tim said just a couple of minutes ago was, ‘just go for one,’” commented Fraser on his mindset as he entered the circle for his final throw. And that he did, unleashing the discus and letting out a rare scream as it landed – 50.57 metres away.
“Last year’s U20 discus was a disaster,” said Fraser following the competition. “Coming in here, I guess I didn’t really have any expectations. And just being able to perform, it’s the unexpected ones that feel the best.”
Josh Cassidy added to his long list of Canadian Championship medals as he rolled his way to a convincing victory in the Para Wheelchair 1500 metres. Cassidy dominated his only event of the weekend, crossing the line in a time of 3 minutes and 18.55 seconds – nearly a full minute ahead of the second place competitor.
Earlier Saturday evening, two Club stars sealed their spots in the evening finals.
Lauren Gale looked comfortable winning her heat of the 400 metres in 51.87 seconds. Gale, who has achieved the Olympic standard this season, will line up in possibly the deepest 400-metre final in Canadian history, with a spot in Paris on the line. The final is scheduled for 8:57 pm.
Club record holder Stephen Evans is set to appear in his second straight national 800-metre final after his second-place effort of 1:47.84 secured him one of two automatic qualifying spots in his heat. Evans, who is scheduled to run at 10:08 pm, will be looking to improve upon his bronze medal performance from a year ago.
Kyle Waldrum concluded the two day U20 men’s decathlon with a personal best score of 5726. Waldrum finished 7th overall.
Visit live.athletics.ca to stay up to date with the latest results in Montreal.