After two days of rain-soaked competition, sunshine finally found the Terry Fox Athletic Facility on Saturday as Ottawa Lions athletes delivered some of the meet’s most memorable moments on Day 4 of the Canadian Track and Field Championships Presented by Bell.
The afternoon’s defining moment came in the men’s 400 metres hurdles final, where University of Ottawa student David Moulongou edged Vancouver Thunderbirds’ James Kerr at the line to claim his first national title. Moulongou leaned at the tape to win 50.09 to 50.16 in a race that had the crowd on its feet — his roaring contingent of Lions teammates among the loudest voices in the stands.
The result was a revelation for the 23-year-old, who finished fifth in the same event a year ago in a time nearly two and a half seconds slower. It was the second-fastest performance of his career, behind only his club record of 49.92 set just two and a half weeks prior in Guelph.
After crossing the line, Moulongou was swarmed by teammates before finding his mother along the fence line. The two embraced, and he leaned in close.
“On le fait,” he told her — we did it.
It was enough to draw tears from his mother and those gathered nearby.
In the women’s 800 metres, Maëliss Trapeau came agonisingly close to defending her Canadian title, finishing second to Nicole McKenzie of the Royal City Athletics Club in a race decided by three hundredths of a second. McKenzie crossed in 2:01.92 with Trapeau right behind at 2:01.95.
Trapeau sat just off the lead through a first lap of approximately 59 seconds before finding herself boxed in around the 500-metre mark. As she worked to get free, she made contact with McKenzie and nearly went down. She gathered herself and closed a three-metre gap over the final straight, but ran out of room to reel in a second consecutive national championship.
In the throwing circle, Jessica Gyamfi produced a breakthrough performance to claim bronze in the women’s discus. The recent University of Ottawa nursing graduate improved her personal best by more than two metres with a throw of 46.74 metres — bettering her previous mark of 44.48 on each of her first four attempts before landing the medal-winning effort. It was her first Canadian senior championship medal.
The day’s final podium moment came from Garneau Secondary School Grade 10 student Maxime Cazabon, who earned his fifth national medal and first at the U20 level with a third-place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.96 metres. Cazabon would then go on to produce the second-best triple jump of his career, bounding out to 13.92 metres for place fifth.
On the track, David Adeleye and Taisei Tan both advanced to their respective 110 metres hurdles finals. Tan, competing over the 39-inch barriers in the U20 event, lowered his lifetime best to 14.39 in the semifinal to move to sixth on the Lions’ all-time U20 list, before placing seventh in the final in 14.47. Adeleye reached the open final and finished seventh in 14.49 in a turbulent race — the Western University graduate student clipped nine of ten barriers and barely stayed upright over the penultimate hurdle before easing across the line.
Tatum Olesen advanced to Sunday’s open women’s 1500 metres final by taking the 11th of 12 qualifying spots in 4:22.10. The University of Virginia student, who is the daughter of former Lions distance standout Marc Olesen, will return to the track Sunday for the final.
Three Lions also advanced in the 200 metres with their sights set on Sunday. Rose Basu posted a personal best of 24.91 to earn a spot in the women’s semifinal. Luca Nicoletti qualified for the open men’s semis with a 21.53 effort, while Ayoub Shangai moved through in the U20 men’s section with a time of 21.80.