Posts tagged: Canada Summer Games

Uncharacteristically cold and blustery conditions swept across St. John’s during the 2025 Canada Summer Games. With temperatures rarely climbing above 12°C, gusting winds, and occasional rain showers, athletes had to contend with more than just their competitors on the track and in the field. But while the skies were grey, the Ottawa Lions still found plenty of silver linings — earning multiple podium finishes, highlighted by three medals of the silver variety, along with a gold and bronze.

For Connor Fraser, it was another step onto the national podium — his third straight silver medal. The Carleton University student launched the discus 47.97 metres to claim second place, continuing a remarkable streak of runner-up finishes. It was his third consecutive silver at a national-level championship, following back-to-back second-place showings at the Canadian Championships, including just three weeks earlier on home soil in Ottawa.

Fraser had to battle the tricky St. John’s winds, fouling four of his six throws. His fifth-round effort, though short of his 51.55m personal best, was enough to secure his spot behind Alberta’s Weezy Eze. Still, Fraser told Ottawa Sports Pages the Games were “by far my favourite track and field experience I’ve ever had.”

In the women’s shot put, Jessica Gyamfi capped her marathon season with perhaps her most memorable performance yet. Competing in her 26th meet of the year, she rose to the occasion under brutal headwinds, delivering one of the best throws of her career.

Living up to the often-shouted mantra of “last throw, best throw,” Gyamfi sent her sixth-round effort out to 13.22 metres to secure the bronze medal.

“It’s like, pray you can keep your form and push against the winds,” Gyamfi explained to Ottawa Sports Pages.

It was a fitting capstone to a long, demanding season, and her medal marked the first by a Lions woman in the Canada Games shot put since Caroline Larose and Sultana Frizell shared the top two podium spots in 2001.

On the track, Zachary Jeggo added to the Lions’ silver collection with a strong run in the men’s 400 metres. His 47.74-second effort put him just four tenths behind Quebec’s Mickael Allaire for gold. But his week didn’t end there.

The soon to be Simon Fraser University freshman later returned to the track as part of Team Ontario’s gold medal-winning 4×400-metre relay squad, extending the Lions’ proud tradition in the event and joining past winners Devin Biocchi (2013), Stuart Pearson (2009), and Tyler Fawcett (2009).

In his Canada Games debut, Liam Davis held his own against the country’s best throwers. He finished eighth in the men’s shot put with a toss of 14.48 metres, and placed sixth in the hammer throw with a personal-best 50.69 metres — a breakthrough in tough conditions.

The Ottawa Lions will proudly send four athletes to represent Team Ontario at the 2025 Canada Summer Games, where athletics competition begins Tuesday at the Fortis Canada Games Complex in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The competition runs through Saturday, bringing together the country’s best emerging athletes. The Lions will look to build on the club’s six-medal haul from the 2022 Games in Niagara.

Fresh off his second straight silver medal at the Canadian Championships, Connor Fraser arrives in St. John’s as one of the country’s most consistent discus throwers. One of three Lions throwers making the trip to The Rock, the Carleton University student secured his Canada Games spot with a dominant performance at the provincial trials earlier this summer and will aim to add another national medal in Saturday’s final.

After a season most athletes could only dream of, Jessica Gyamfi will be looking to end things on a high note in the shot put. Following a bronze medal at the USports Championships and University of Ottawa Athlete of the Year honours, the soon-to-be third-year nursing student earned the ultimate honour, representing Canada at the World University Games in Germany. Since winning Ontario’s selection trials, Gyamfi placed fifth at the Canadian Championships. She will line up in qualification on Wednesday with an eye toward Saturday’s final.

Rounding out the throwers, Liam Davis will double up in the shot put and hammer throw. A fourth-place finish in the shot and a 12th-place showing in the hammer at nationals confirmed his steady progression, and he’ll open his Games on Tuesday in the shot put before contesting the hammer on Wednesday.

On the track, Zachary Jeggo will represent Ontario in the 400 metres and the 4x400m relay. The 18-year-old recently earned bronze in the U20 400m at the Canadian Championships, anchored the Lions to a Canadian Club record in the 4x400m, and closed his season with a personal best over 300m at the Twilight finale. He begins competition Tuesday night with the 400m preliminaries and is slated for relay duty Wednesday, with finals later in the week.

Schedule to Watch (All times Eastern)

• Tuesday, Aug. 19 – Davis: Shot Put Final (11:30 a.m.); Jeggo: 400m Prelims (5:40 p.m.)
• Wednesday, Aug. 20 – Gyamfi: Shot Put Qualification (11:30 a.m.); Davis: Hammer Final (6:30 p.m.); Jeggo: 4x400m Prelims (7:20 p.m.)
• Friday, Aug. 22 – Jeggo: 400m Final (2:10 p.m.)
• Saturday, Aug. 23 – Fraser: Discus Final (10:45 a.m.); Gyamfi: Shot Put Final (11:00 a.m.); Jeggo: 4x400m Final (6:55 p.m.)

All events will be streamed live on Canada Games Athletics and CBC Sports’ YouTube channel.

When Jay Yetman, standing just outside Alberta’s 24-yard line, took a pass from his Team Quebec teammate, it looked like just another routine phase of play. But with just over 30 seconds left in the first half of the Canada Summer Games bronze medal match, the McGill University student turned an ordinary reception into the game-winning score.

In an instant, Yetman shifted his focus to the in-goal area and exploded forward, hunting what would become his sixth try of the tournament. With Quebec leading 12–5, he was quickly met by an Alberta defender who leapt onto the back of the 20-year-old’s jersey — clinging on for several metres before falling away. The Glebe Collegiate graduate shrugged off one more would-be tackler before tumbling across the line, extending Quebec’s lead to 17–5 at the break. Alberta would score twice in the second half to close the gap to 17–15, but Yetman’s effort proved to be the bronze medal–winning try.

A natural fit for Rugby 7s, where the need for speed is paramount, Yetman began his career with the Ottawa Lions nearly a decade ago. He belongs to an exclusive club in Lions history — one of just 14 sprinters to have run sub-11 for 100m, sub-22 for 200m, and sub-50 for 400m.

Wednesday’s medal was the culmination of a tournament where speed, grit, and versatility collided. Yetman crossed the try line three times in a 31–7 win over Prince Edward Island, added another in a 36–5 victory over Nova Scotia, and scored once more in a 57–0 rout of Yukon. Quebec finished pool play 3–1, tied with host Newfoundland, then stormed past New Brunswick 48–12 in the quarterfinals before falling 24–12 to eventual gold medalists Ontario in the semis.

That Yetman was starring in a different uniform — and a different sport — might surprise those who know him only from the track. Just 10 days earlier, he was wearing Ottawa Lions colours at Terry Fox Athletic Facility, sprinting in the 100m and 200m at the Canadian Track and Field Championships. At McGill, he is a rare two-sport athlete, balancing the precision and explosiveness of sprinting with the chaos and contact of rugby.

In doing so, he follows unique footsteps. Yetman becomes the second Lions athlete in as many Canada Summer Games to compete outside of track and field, after Audrey Goddard represented Ontario in volleyball in 2022.

Just five years ago, the Ottawa Lions had no athletes competing at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. It was the first time it had happened in the 43 year history of the Club. As the athletics portion of this year’s Games in Niagara wrapped up this afternoon, only one thought comes to mind, “My how things have changed!”.

An impressive six current Lions donned the red and white of Team Ontario at the Games, combining to bring home five medals – equalling the total captured by the 2009 Lions in Charlottetown. 

The four days of competition at the new Canada Games Park in Thorold has been a bit of a coming out party for 400 metre hurdler David Moulongou. The University of Ottawa student, who was only introduced to the one lap hurdles race this year, put the country on notice with his silver medal in Friday’s final. 

Moulongou has proven he performs his best when it matters most this season. First he ran a personal best to win the trials and qualify for the team back in early July. On Friday, he chopped 1.99 seconds off the lifetime best to win his silver medal. David came into the Games with the goal to “finally be able to ‘click’ and showcase the talent that has remained ‘potential,’ as a result of being new to my event.” Two words – mission accomplished!

If one medal wasn’t enough for the 19-year-old Moulongou, he teamed up with fellow Lion and 400 metre hurdler, Luca Nicoletti, to help Team Ontario to a bronze in the 4×400 metre relay today. The pair ran the opening to legs, as Ontario finished in 3:11.90 – just 0.11 seconds behind Quebec. 

Another hurdler, David Adeleye, also put on a show when it mattered most. The University of Toronto student ran his third personal best in just over 10 days when he took home the silver in the 110 metre hurdles on Saturday afternoon. Adeleye’s time of 14.03 seconds took a full tenth of a second off his previous best, set at the final Twilight of the season and gets him closer to becoming only the third Lion to break the 14 second barrier. 

Before his individual glory though came team gold. Adeleye ran lead off for Ontario’s 4×100 metre relay team in the heats before being replaced in the final, where Ontario won by three tenths of a second over British Columbia. 

For thrower Tommy Nedow, the Games’ marked the end of a very long season that has seen the Brockville native compete more than 40 times this year. However, the 24-year-old managed to end his season with a pair of bronze medals as he took home bronze in both the shot put and discus. For good measure, he added a fifth place finish in the hammer throw as well. 

Sprinter Doyin Ogunremi competed right near her lifetime bests all week, but fell just short of the podium. After a fourth place finish in the open 400 metre found her just 35 hundredths off the podium, she was met with nearly the identical fate in the relay. Despite a strong 55.2 second anchor leg, Ogunremi was half step behind the Team BC runner as Ontario missed the podium by four tenths in 3:41.51.

While there was much success for current Lions on the track, the Club’s story at the Games does not end there. Team Ontario also featured two former Lions Madison McLean and Jonathan Rioux, while Will Cox represented Nova Scotia, where he is attending university. 

McLean had the perfect meet as she took top spot in the javelin and also set a new personal best of 47.84 metres in the process. On the track, Cox and Rioux battled it out in the 3000 metre steeplechase as the pair finished fifth and sixth respectively. The separation between the two – just two hundredths of a second.

Away from the track, current heptathlete Audrey Goddard is representing Ontario on the volleyball court. Goddard and her teammates are set to square off against Quebec on Sunday to determine fifth place in the tournament. 

Other former Lions in action in the Games included Lucy Hempstead, and sisters Amelia and Zoe Wojtyk. 

Hempstead, who gave up her sprint spikes for cycling shoes after the 2020 season, was champion in the time trial event and also placed sixth in the road race. 

The Wojtyk sisters didn’t have to move too far when they left track and field, switching to canoeing on the other side of Mooney’s Bay with the Rideau Canoe Club. The pair captured an impressive seven medals on the water. The pair teamed up for a silver in the C-2 1000m, and were both on the IC-4 200m and 500m boats that captured bronze. Individually, Zoe was the silver medalist in the C-1 5000m and also won bronze as part of the mixed C-2 500m. Amelia, who was a pole vaulter with the Club, paddled her way to a pair of silvers in the C-1 500 and 1000 metre events. 

After a one year delay, the time has finally arrived. The athletics portion of the Canada Summer Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event that brings together the best summer sport athletes from across Canada, kicks off Tuesday morning at Canada Games Park in Thorold, Ont. The Lions will be represented by six current members during the four day competition, and they will be led by another three Lions coaches. 

David Adeleye, David Moulongou, Tom Nedow, Luca Nicoletti, Doyin Ogunremi, and Leo Wallner will don the red and white of Team Ontario, guided by head coach Leslie Estwick and two of her assistants Zach Quevillon and Amanda Fader. Two former Lions, Madison McLean (javelin) and Jonathan Rioux (3000m steeplechase) will also be representing Ontario at the Games. 

Wallner is the first to compete, starting day one of the two day decathlon at 9:25 am on Tuesday morning. The 18-year-old says his goal heading into the Games is to improve on his throwing events and hopefully make a run for the 6000 point barrier. Wallner had set a new personal best of 5689 points when he won the Trials in early July. 

Tuesday will also see a pair of 400 metre hurdlers in action in the form of Luca Nicoletti and David Moulongou. The pair finished third and fifth respectively at this year’s Canadian U20 Championships and have their eyes set squarely on running even faster on this new Canada Games Park track. 

While both are also expected to take part in relay events for Team Ontario, Moulongou has been offered another challenge at the Games – the 800 metres. While not having contested the event previously, the University of Ottawa student will toe the line in the heats Wednesday as the coaches believe his 400 metre speed (personal best 48.94) and his strength from the hurdles will be a solid combination to help Ontario score valuable team points. 

Tuesday will also feature the heats for the flat 400 metres for Doyin Ogunremi. The 19-year-old has been on a bit of a tear of late, having produced a wonderful lead off leg for the Lions’ Canadian Club record setting 4×400 metre at the national championships and followed that up with a massive lifetime best to win the trials back in early July. She’ll be looking to keep those feet moving fast to secure a spot in Friday’s final. 

Ogunremi will also contest the 200 metre heats on Wednesday, and is also expected to line up on the 4×400 metre relay team. 

If you’re looking for Tom Nedow, he’ll be out in the field throwing some heavy objects. The 24-year-old is one of the oldest members of team Ontario and one of its busiest as he will contest three of the four throwing events in Thorold. The national silver medalist will undoubtedly be a favourite in the discus when it gets started Tuesday afternoon. 

Nedow will contest the shot put on Wednesday, an event where he just set a new lifetime best of 17.61 metres less than two weeks ago. He’ll follow that up a couple hours later with the hammer throw, an event he won at this year’s Ontario Championships. 

Look for David Adeleye to be gunning for a spot on the podium in his speciality, the 110 metre hurdles when they get going on Wednesday. The University of Toronto student is coming off a pair of personal bests at our final Twilight last Wednesday and is primed to break the 14 second barrier in the right conditions. 

Away from the track, heptathlete Audrey Goddard will be jumping with a slightly different purpose as she spike her way to a medal as part of Ontario’s volleyball team. The multi-sport talent, who also plays for the Ottawa Fusion Volleyball Club, will put her six foot tall stature and bouncy step to great use as outside attacker. Goddard and Team Ontario kick off round robin play on Tuesday against Nova Scotia. 

Tuesday will also be the first day of action for Lucy Hempstead as she competes in the cycling time trial event – a strong suit for the former 400 metre hurdler. Hempstead, who made the transition from the track to road cycling after a strong performance at the RBC Training Ground, has stated her goals for the Games are to “win the time trial and position myself well in the road race.”

Below is a schedule of events for Lions athletes on the track and in the field.

Tuesday, August 16

09h25    Decathlon 100m (Leo Wallner)
10h15    Decathlon Long Jump (Leo Wallner)
10h40    Men’s 400m Hurdle Heats (Luca Nicoletti/David Moulongou)
12h30    Decathlon Shot Put (Leo Wallner)
14h30    Decathlon High Jump (Leo Wallner)
15h10    Women’s 400m Heats (Doyin Ogunremi)
16h00    Men’s Discus Qualifying (Tom Nedow)
17h20    Decathlon 400m (Leo Wallner)

Wednesday, August 17        

09h00    Decathlon 110m Hurdles (Leo Wallner)
09h30    Men’s Shot Put Qualifying (Tom Nedow)
10h15    Decathlon Discus (Leo Wallner)
10h20    Women’s 200m Heats (Doyin Ogunremi)
11h15    Men’s 800m heats (David Moulongou)
12h20    Decathlon Pole Vault (Leo Wallner)
14h55    Men’s 110m Hurdle Heats (David Adeleye)
15h15    Decathlon Javelin (Leo Wallner)
16h30    Men’s Hammer Throw Qualifying (Tom Nedow)
16h35    Men’s 4x400m Heats (Luca Nicoletti/David Moulongou)
17h05    Women’s 4x400m Heats (Doyin Ogunremi)
17h50    Decathlon 1500m (Leo Wallner)

Friday, August 19

11h15    Men’s 400m Consolation Final (David Moulongou*)
11h25    Women’s 400m Consolation Final (Doyin Ogunremi*)
11h35    Men’s 400m Final (David Moulongou*)
11h45    Women’s 400m Final (Doyin Ogunremi*)
13h15    Men’s Hammer Final (Tom Nedow*)
15h00    Men’s Shot Put Final (Tom Nedow*)
16h45    Men’s 400m Hurdle Consolation Final (Luca Nicoletti/David Moulongou*)
17h15    Men’s 400m Hurdle Final (Luca Nicoletti/David Moulongou*)

Saturday, August 20

09h00    Men’s Discus Final (Tom Nedow*)
09h05    Women’s 200m Consolation Final (Doyin Ogunremi*)
09h25    Women’s 200m Final (Doyin Ogunremi*)
10h50    Men’s 800m Consolation Final (David Moulongou*)
11h10    Men’s 800m Final (David Moulongou*)
11h45    Men’s 110m Hurdle Consolation Final (David Adeleye*)
11h50    Men’s 110m Hurdle Final (David Adeleye*)
16h05    Men’s 4x400m Final (Luca Nicoletti/David Moulongou*)
16h15    Women’s 4x400m Final (Doyin Ogunremi*)

*pending qualification

For results, visit Windsor Timing.

For Live Streaming, visit https://niagara2022games.ca/