The Ottawa Lions saved their biggest fireworks for the final day of the 2025 Canadian Track and Field Championships, capping the meet with record-breaking runs, national titles, and a podium flurry in front of a roaring home crowd at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.
The headline performance came from the U20 men’s 4×400-metre relay team of Ayoub Shangai, Ange-Mathis Kramo, William Sanders, and Zachary Jeggo, who obliterated their own Canadian Club record of 3:14.80 set earlier this year. The quartet stopped the clock in a stunning 3:10.62, upgrading from last year’s silver medal while also rewriting the Canadian Club U23 and Open records — both previously held by Lions squads.
In the U20 women’s 200 metres, Jorai Oppong-Nketiah continued to light up the track with a blistering personal best of 23.54 seconds to claim gold. The victory completed a sprint double for the 17-year-old, who also won the 100m earlier in the week — mirroring the feat she accomplished at last year’s Canadian U18 Championships.
Safwan El Mansari thrived under the championship spotlight, running a personal best of 1:51.14 to capture silver in the U20 men’s 800m. The first Lions male to reach the U20 800m podium since Yves Sikubwabo’s 2012 gold, El Mansari also moved to #6 on the club’s all-time list.
The senior women’s 4x400m continued their dominance, securing a seventh consecutive national title. Alexandra Telford, Sydney Smith, Maëliss Trapeau, and Lauren Gale battled strong winds to finish in an impressive 3:38.31— the second-fastest run in Canadian Club history, behind only the Lions’ 3:35.46 record set in 2023. The Lions B team of Rosemary Holmes, Tatiana Pender, Brooklyn McCormick, and Cora McQuinn took silver in 3:50.30.
Those victories were just the start of a busy afternoon on the baton exchange, as the Lions kept piling up medals across the relay program. The U20 women’s 4x100m team of Chloë Martineau, Teagan Casselman, Kaiya Woodcock, and Livia Buffone stormed to bronze in 47.58, breaking the club record of 47.68 that had stood since 2007. Not to be outdone, the senior women’s 4x100m squad of Paulina Procyk, McQuinn, Courtney Cenac, and Amy Zhang struck gold in 48.19, keeping the Lions atop the national sprint relay podium.
On the men’s side, the senior 4x400m quartet of Leewinchell Jean, El Mansari, William Harris, and David Moulongou battled to a tight bronze-medal finish in 3:16.03, while the senior 4x100m team of Ayomide Omotayo, Leo Wallner, Quinn Lyness, and Fabrice Nonez also claimed bronze with a time of 43.62. In the U20 4x100m, Jaime Tapa, Jamie Meikle, Alexander Forzley, and Xavier Placid stopped the clock in 42.23 for third place — a mark that now ranks #5 all-time in club history.
The final relay podium of the Championships came from the U20 women’s 4x400m, where Shannon Dewar, Norah Nitta MacKay, Sophia McIntyre, and Ellie McGregor combined for a bronze-medal run of 3:55.04.
With an incredible 11 medals on the final day of competition, the Lions closed out the Championships with 19 medals overall. Fuelled by the fantastic home crowd, the team ended the week in emphatic fashion — rewriting history, extending streaks, and setting the stage for the 2026 Canadian Track and Field Championships, which will return to Terry Fox Athletic Facility from June 17–21, 2026.
Full results are available on our website.
Club rankings are available at https://milesrowat.shinyapps.io/ottl_rankings/