A highlight of this year’s Championship was the senior women’s 400 meters, an event marked by unprecedented strength in Canada. This was evident in Saturday’s final, where Lauren Gale secured her second silver medal in three years, finishing with a time of 51.35 seconds.
“I think I went out pretty hard and didn’t fall asleep on the corner,” said Gale of her race plan execution. “Just at the end didn’t have enough to keep first.”
After a stress reaction in her foot was discovered at the 2022 World Championships that disrupted her training for the 2023 season, Gale said she was “just happy to be running healthy and have a good season,” following Saturday’s race.
While Lauren did not guarantee her spot in Paris, it is widely expected she will be named to the Olympic team when it is announced this week. However, she is not one to count her chickens before they are hatched. “I’m waiting for the e-mail confirmation that says ‘Lauren you’re going to Paris’.’”
David Adeleye, despite a shoulder injury just three weeks prior, added another national medal to his collection. The recent University of Toronto graduate took home silver in the 110 metre hurdles, finishing behind Royal City’s Craig Thorne with a time of 13.94 seconds. The two had a similar 1-2 finish at this year’s USports Championship.
“The race was good from one to five (hurdles), and then the race went apart at five or six and it held me back a bit,” described Adeleye. “The time was decent given the circumstances of the race, but I know I can go a lot faster this season.”
Zachary Jeggo made a significant leap from his seventh-place finish as a 16-year-old in 2023, earning bronze in the U20 men’s 400 meters with a time of 48.29 seconds.
Stephan Balson, who posted the second-fastest time in Friday’s semi-final, did not advance as a non-Canadian. Balson hails from St. Kitts and Nevis, which he represented at last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.
Stephen Evans, a medalist last year in the 800 metres, missed the podium Saturday night, finishing fifth with a time of 1:48.75. Positioned near the back of the pack at the halfway mark, Evans was unable to close the gap with the leaders over the final 400 metres..
Nicolas Belan also fell short of reaching the podium, placing sixth in the U20 men’s 1500 metres on Saturday afternoon. Belan, one of three Canadian men to have achieved the World U20 Championship standard, finished in a time of 3 minutes and 58.16 seconds.
The 400-metre hurdle semifinals saw significant success for the Ottawa Lions, with five athletes qualifying for Sunday’s finals. Quinn Coughlin (U20) and Rosemary Holmes (Senior) will compete in the women’s finals, while Saj Alhaddad and David Moulongou will represent the men in the senior final. Zachary Jeggo also qualified for his second consecutive U20 men’s final before winning bronze in the 400 metres.
Kevin Robertson, who won silver in Thursday’s steeplechase final, secured his spot in a second final of the weekend with a personal best of 3:43.84 in the 1500 metres, claiming the last spot in Sunday’s final.
Finally, Liam Davis secured his spot in the U20 shot put final with a personal best throw of 15.15 metres. Davis, who was a medalist at the recent OFSAA Championships, was forced to qualify through the preliminary rounds as he had not yet competed with the 6-kilogram implement.