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Kyra Lauter wins bronze at Spartan Kids World Championship

by Internationallinkinbio

Not many athletes get the opportunity to say they won a medal at a world championship. Over the weekend, Lions runner Kyra Lauter got that opportunity, taking home a bronze medal from the Spartan Kids World Championship in Sebring, Florida.

The Franco-Ouest grade nine student placed third in the 12-14 year old category, completing the two mile course in 24 minutes and 23 seconds. The Spartan race is not your average cross country race though, incorporating between 15 and 20 obstacles for athletes to overcome such as rope climbing, spear throwing, and conquering a six foot wall on the way to the finish line. 

Kyra qualified for the World Championships after a pair of podium finishes in local races this past summer. First was a silver medal performance at the Ottawa Spartan Race in May followed by a victory in Mont-Tremblant a month later. 

The 14-year-old’s success in the Spartan Races is not unique among Club members. Reigning Canadian U20 3000 metre steeplechase silver medallist Louise Stonham won bronze in the same 12-14 age category at the 2019 Spartan Kids World Championships.

Lauter’s result in Florida marked the end to a very successful fall season in which she placed 56th in the novice girls race at the OFSAA Cross Country Championships and followed it up by being the Lions fifth scorer on the Ontario Champion U16 girls cross country team. 

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Shapiro and Manuel run for Canada at Maccabiah Games

by Internationallinkinbio

Representing Canada on the international stage is what many athletes dream of. For two Lions, Ben Shapiro and Alex Manuel, they had that opportunity late last month as they donned the red and white and competed in the 21st Maccabiah Games – a multisport games for athletes of the Jewish faith that takes place in the year following the Olympic Games in Israel. 

Shapiro was the busier of the two men taking to the line in all three sprints plus the relay events. The meet got off to a great start as Shapiro ran his way to a personal best time of 11.47 seconds to place sixth in the junior men’s 100 metres. He would follow that up with an all-conditions best in the 200 metres as he clocked a windy 23.84 seconds to place ninth overall.  

The future Western University student also helped Canada to fourth and fifth place finishes in the 4×100 and 4×400 metre relays respectively. 

For Manuel, the 100 metres also brought out the best in him as he finished fifth overall in the open men’s race with a new personal best time of 10.95 seconds. Alex added a second fifth place finish in the 200 metres, crossing the line in a season’s best of 22.73.

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Cassidy to carry flag at Commonwealth opening cermonies

by Internationallinkinbio

Commonwealth Sport Canada proudly announced Lions wheelchair racer Joshua Cassidy will be one of two athletes that will help usher the Canadian flag into Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on July 27 during the opening ceremonies of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Cassidy, a bronze medalist at the 2010 Games, will be joined in the honour by Olympic and Commonwealth weightlifting champion Maude Charron. 

“This is going take some time to sink in, but this opportunity is something that when you’re starting out as an athlete, to be a flag bearer for a games is always recognized as such a prestigious thing,” said Cassidy upon learning that he had been chosen. “What an honour and what a huge surprise. Thank you so much.”

Cassidy becomes just the second Lion to have the honour of being flag bearer for Canada at the Commonwealth Games. Hammer thrower Sultana Frizell carried the Canadian flag in the closing ceremonies of the 2014 Games in Glasgow.

(Langley, British Columbia ---25 June 2022) Lauren Gale competing on day four of the Canadian Track and Field Championships at McLeod Athletic Park. Photograph 2022 Copyright Miles Ryan Rowat / Mundo Sport Images

Gale finishes 26th in 200m; turns eye to 4×4 at World Championships

by Internationallinkinbio

It’s been a busy year for Lauren Gale. Since opening her season on the 15th of January, the 22-year-old had raced no less than 33 times before arriving here in Eugene for the World Championships. Two races in and she remains hungry for the next one. 

Gale was in tough Monday night in her heat of the 200 metres. Lined up to the outside of defending bronze medalist Mujinga Kambundji and world number two Abby Steiner, the Club record holder was fourth across the line in 23.08 seconds. Gale’s performance fell just short of qualifying on time as she finished 26th overall in the field of 44. 

“I’m very happy with my time considering I’ve been running for a while,” explained Gale following her race. “I’m happy to come fourth in my race behind such great competitors.”

Now the focus for Gale shifts to Canada’s 4×400 metre relay team, which begins their quest for a spot on the podium Saturday night. 

The Canadian women, including Gale as an alternate, finished an agonizing fourth last year in Tokyo – the second Olympics in a row. Heading into the weekend, the goal is simple, “I’m hoping Canada medals,” said Gale. 

“I think we’re got the talent to do so. I think all three other girls are very competitive and I think they are ready. 

The 4×400 metre heats go Saturday night at 8:10pm eastern and can be streamed live on CBC.ca

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Gale places 29th in World Championship 400m

by Internationallinkinbio

“It feels awesome.” That’s how sprinter Lauren Gale described the experience of running in her first World Athletics Championship. The 22-year-old sprinter placed fifth in her heat of the 400 metres in a time of 52.46 second, missing out on one of the three automatic qualifying spots. 

“I haven’t run at Oregon on this track yet, so to break it in at a World Championship is just an amazing feeling,” explained Gale following her heat.  The recent Colorado State University graduate had expected to get her first taste of the Hayward magic last month at the NCAA Championships, but her collegiate season was cut short by a case of COVID which forced her to withdraw from the West Regional Preliminaries. 

Gale pushed the pace for the first 200, splitting 24.5 at the halfway mark and finding herself in a tight battle for second place. However, as the field entered the home stretch, the field had caught up and eventually passed her as she shifted back to fifth.

There is still more to come from Gale this championship as she lines in heat five of the 200 metre preliminaries tonight at 9:28pm eastern. You can catch all the action live on CBC.

(Langley, British Columbia ---23 June 2022) Doyin Ogunremi competing on day two of the Canadian Track and Field Championships at McLeod Athletic Park. Photograph 2022 Copyright Miles Ryan Rowat / Mundo Sport Images ******* EDITORIAL USE ONLY ******* ******* EDITORIAL USE ONLY ******* ******* EDITORIAL USE ONLY *******

Evans nears record; Lions earn spots for Canada Summer Games

by InternationallinkinbioProvincial

While it may be Canada Day weekend here in Ottawa, middle distance runner Stephen Evans decided to do some celebrating at the Stars and Stripes Classic in Marietta, GA Saturday night. The number two 800 metre runner in Club history inched a little closer to the record book at the American Track League stop as he placed sixth in a time of one minute and 47.30 seconds. 

Evans, who had a disappointing Canadian Championship last weekend where he failed to make the final, has made great strides in his running this season – knocking 98 hundredths of a second off his personal best. His time from Saturday night is six hundredths behind one of the longest standing records in the Club – Richard Brant’s mark of 1:47.24 from 1987. 

Closer to home, the Canada Summer Games Trials are underway at the Toronto Track and Field Centre at York University. Day one of action saw a few Lions book their spot on Team Ontario in addition to another pair of Canadian Records for Bianca Borgella. 

By virtue of victories in their respective events, David Moulongou and Doyin Ogunremi secured their spots on Team Ontario for the Canada Summer Games set for the Niagara Region in August. 

Moulongou had the race of his life in the opening event of the day, as he was first across the line in the 400 metre hurdles to win in 54.78 seconds. The University of Ottawa student trimmed more than a quarter of a second off his previous best set last week at the Canadian U20 Championships as he narrowly edged out teammate Luca Nicoletti who was second in 54.83 seconds. 

You would think that it would be hard to follow up on a Canadian Championship performance that included a personal best and an even speedier lead off leg for the Lions’ Canadian Club Record setting 4×400 metre relay, but Doyin Ogunremi said “Just watch me “ at the Ontario Trials event. The University of Ottawa slashed nearly a second and a half off her week old best as she took home top spot in the 400 metres with a time of 55.18 seconds. 

The 20-year-old Ogunremi has now cut a full two seconds off her 400 metre best this season and moves to eighth on the Club’s all-time U23 list. 

Finally, Bianca Borgella re-wrote a couple of week old Canadian T13 records with new lifetime bests at 100 and 400 metres Saturday. The visually impaired athlete lowered her mark in the 100 metres to 12.37 from the Canadian Championship winning run of 12.43 last week. As well, Borgella put up a 1:00.84 second clocking for 400 metres that cuts 1.35 seconds off her other week old record.

Also wrapping day one, Audrey Goddard is on a personal best pace in her second heptathlon in as many weeks. She sits in second place with 2964 points. As well, Leo Wallner is having the decathlon of his life, finishing first or second in four of the five events on day one and holding the overnight lead at 3275 points. 

For live results, visit: https://athleticsontario.ca/statistics/results/live/2022/0702-team-o-trials/index.htm

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Michelle Atherley and Ken Mullings take home NACAC gold in Ottawa

by Internationallinkinbio

By: Pippa Norman

The final day of the NACAC Combined Events Championship came to a thunderous conclusion today, with American Michelle Atherley and Bahamian Ken Mullings walking away as Area Champions.

Finishing with 6029 points, Atherley described her second day of competition as being full of highs and lows. She said her results in long jump and javelin were close to her lowest marks this season, but she managed to stick to her goal of running under 2:12 in her 800m.

On her way to the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon this summer with today’s first place finish, Atherley said for now, she’s excited to just relax.

“I’m looking forward to sleeping… I think my body really needs it,” she said. “I can’t wait to go home and see my friends.”

Fellow American Ashtin Mahler held second place for most of the day, before dropping out of the competition just before the 800m. In search of that World Championship qualifying score, Mahler decided to re-focus her energy into an upcoming World Combined Events Challenge competition in Spain.

Garnering a silver medal, Canadian Nicole Ostertag finished 228 points behind Atherley. Despite an afternoon scare in which Ostertag said she hit her javelin off her head, she still managed to pull out a personal best in every event and exceed her expectations.

“I’m really happy with that score,” said Ostertag of her personal best performance. “I didn’t come into this meet, thinking I could score that high. But I kept focused in each event and it ended up adding up.”

In the men’s decathlon, Bahamian Ken Mullings maintained his lead from day one, finishing with an overall score of 7537, a mere 197 points away from his personal best. Winning javelin was a highlight for Mullings, he said.

“Javelin was one of my weakest throwing events and now it’s getting up there with one of my strongest,” Mullings said.

He added that even without strong decathlon athletes such as Damien Warner or Lindon Victor present, Mullings’ victory still means a lot to him.

“At least now I can say I’m the champion of NACAC,” Mullings said. “I’m still happy because I got to win for the Bahamas.”

Finishing 1087 points behind Mullings, Canadian Shawn Beaudoin moved up in the standings today to snag a silver medal. Beaudoin said he struggled to return to the competition after over an hour delay due to lightning, but overall, he was happy with the consistency of his performance.

“It could have been a better score, for sure. But I’m happy to have won a medal,” he said.

Canadian Rostam Turner dropped from second to third place on day two of the competition, with an overall score of 6344. Finishing without a height in pole vault, Turner said he didn’t meet his expectations for the meet, but medalling was still important to him.

“It means a lot. It’s always a big deal, winning a medal at an international event,” Turner said.

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Combined event athletes descend on Canadian capital to vie for Area Championship and spot at World Championships

by Internationallinkinbio

By: Pippa Norman

A fierce competition is descending upon the Terry Fox Athletic Facility this weekend, as athletes from North America, Central America and the Caribbean arrive to compete in the NACAC Combined Events Championship.

Hosted by the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, the two-day championship will feature women competing in the heptathlon and men competing in the decathlon.

Leading the American contingent are former NCAA Champions Ashtin Mahler and Michelle Atherley. The pair are coming off a 2-3 finish at last weekend’s USA Championships in Arkansas and looking to finalize their spot in this summer’s World Championships.

A win this weekend in Ottawa will provide either woman with an automatic World Championship qualification that comes from being an Area Champion. The other will be looking for valuable performance points to improve their world rankings and find their way in to the global top-24 ranking to secure a spot on Team USA for the upcoming championships.

Donning the maple leaf this weekend will be Team Canada athletes Nicole Ostertag, Rostam Turner, Maddison Lawrence and Shawn Beaudoin.

Ostertag, a university senior and member of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club, won silver in the indoor pentathlon at the 2020 U SPORTS championships. More recently, she garnered multiple PBs and a new personal best of 5443 points in the heptathlon at the Bryan Clay Invitational in California.

Coming off a heel injury that put Ostertag out of commission for close to a year, she said she’s excited for the chance to compete this weekend.

“Because I’ve been injured, I haven’t been able to train as much as I’d like,” Ostertag said. “But in the past month or so I’ve been able to do more training and get some technical work in, so I’m excited to put that practice to use in competition.”

Unlike Ostertag, who was named to Team Canada in April, this won’t be Turner’s first time representing Canada on an international stage. A member of the Okanagan Athletics Club, Turner competed for Canada at the 2017 Francophone Games, in addition to winning the heptathlon at the U SPORTS championships that same year. 

Representing Canada this weekend adds another layer of adrenaline to the competition, Turner said.

“It’s super exciting and fun to represent Canada,” Turner said. “I guess [there’s] a little more pressure, but I feel like sometimes it can be a good thing.”

Turner said his goal for the weekend is to take it one event at a time and put up a “big score at the end” for an overall personal best. Turner’s current personal best is 7601 points in decathlon.

Alysha Newman, two-time Olympic pole vaulter, is another Canadian athlete with something to prove this weekend. Newman recently added heptathlon to her skillset after a concussion last year forced her to take a break from pole vault.

“[The plan] wasn’t really to take [heptathlon] up, it was to stay in shape and get ready for when the doctors cleared me to pole vault again,” Newman said. “I happened to just end up falling in love with it and being pretty good at it.”

Heading into her first ever heptathlon competition, Newman said her goal is to finish an entire two days of competition with a score in every event.

“I just want to make sure I can get through the whole thing,” Newman said.

Competition kicks off Saturday morning at 10 a.m. tomorrow and concluded Sunday around 6 p.m.

(Guelph, Canada---07 June 2019) Stephen Evans competing in the 800m at the 2019 Speed River Inferno Track and Field Festival held at Alumni Stadium at the University of Guelph. Copyright image 2019 Sean W Burges / Mundo Sport Images

Robertson, Evans, and Gale have big weekend south of the border

by InternationallinkinbioUniversity

Another stellar weekend of performances for the Lions south of the border this past weekend as Kevin Robertson set a big personal best for the second week in a row, Stephen Evans the best season opener of his career, and Lauren Gale ran the second fastest outdoor 400 of her life. 

Like we said just a week ago, all Kevin Robertson seems to do these days is run faster. The Syracuse junior skimmed more than four seconds off his previous 1500 metre best en route to a sixth place finish at the Virgina Grand Prix on Sunday with a time of 3:46.26.

Sunday’s run is just the latest in a series of personal best performances this season. Beginning all the way back in December of 2021 with a lifetime best in the 300 metres at Cornell, Robertson has run a personal best in every competition since with the exception of the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Championship 3000, and that was only because he had obliterated his previous best in the event the meet before. 

On the other side of the continent, Stephen Evans produced the best opening run of his career as he took second at the Payton Jordan Invite 800 metres in California on Friday night. The former USport champion continued the strong running that saw him produce multiple indoor 800 bests as he crossed the line in 1 minute and 48.52 seconds – the second fastest performance of his life. 

Finally, Lauren Gale put on a show at the Fresno State Invitational. The Colorado State senior took top spot in the 400 metres with a time of 51.99 seconds. It was the closest matchup of the season for Gale with second place finisher Tiana Holmes of New Mexico State University finishing 69 hundredths of a second behind the 2021 Olympian. 

The pair will battle again in two weeks time as Gale looks to capture an unprecedented sixth straight Mountain West Conference 400 metre title (indoors and outdoors).

In addition to her individual success, Gale led the Rams 4×400 metre relay to a school record performance of 3:36.42. The mark is just one of six Colorado State records Gale now holds indoors and outdoors.

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Ottawa Lions set to host NACAC Combined Events Championship

by Internationallinkinbio

Ottawa, ON – The Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club are thrilled to be hosting the NACAC Combined Events Championship May 14-15, 2022. The event will bring together some of the best athletes in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean to compete in the two day heptathlon and decathlon events at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility. 

The heptathlon and decathlon consist of seven and ten events respectively contested over two days. The women’s heptathlon begins with the 100 metre hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200 metres on day one and concludes with long jump, javelin, and 800 metres. The decathlon starts with the 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 metres and concludes with the 110 metre hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500 metres. 

Supported by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario, this year’s championship event is the latest in a long line of major combined events competitions to be held in Ottawa. Most recently, the Ottawa Lions played host to the Pan American Combined Events Cup in 2018.

“After cancellations the last two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re really excited to bring international track and field back to Ottawa,” said Ottawa Lions Executive Director and Head Coach Richard Johnston.

“An event like the NACAC Championships is a great opportunity for the athletes competing, but is also a strong motivator for our younger athletes who have the opportunity to see first hand the level of performance required at that next level of competition.” 

This year’s NACAC event will serve as a valuable stepping stone for many athletes looking to qualify for future World Athletics Championships, including this year’s championship set for July in Eugene, OR. 

As an area championship, the event carries the World Athletics GL ranking designation, which will provide athletes up to 110 placing points to help further their world ranking score and qualify for global championships.

The Championship kicks off Saturday, May 14 at 10:00 am with the women in the 100 metre hurdles. The men begin 30 minutes later with the 100 metres.

For more information, visit www.nacacottawa22.com