(North York, Canada---14 July 2023) Lauren Gale of Ottawa Lions T.F.C. competing on day one of the Ontario U20/Open Track and Field Championships at the Toronto Track and Field Centre. Copyright 2023 Miles Ryan Rowat/ Mundo Sport Images. If posting to social media please tag @mundosportimages

Bell Olympic and Paralympic Trials: Lions Athletes Aim for National Glory and Team Canada Spots

by linkinbioNational

Four years after it was originally scheduled, Montreal will finally host the Olympic and Paralympic Trials this weekend at the Centre Sportif Claude Robillard. Over 80 Lions athletes will be in action, competing for national glory in the U20, Open, and Para categories. For a select few, this event also serves as a crucial step towards earning a spot on Team Canada and competing later this summer in Paris.

Lions athletes are aiming to surpass their impressive haul of 10 medals from last year’s competition in Langley.

Elite Contenders

Among the favorites for medals and spots in Paris are sprinters Lauren Gale and Bianca Borgella. Both women enter the meet as the top seed in their principal events.

Lauren Gale is the top seed in the women’s 400 metres after setting a Club record of 50.47 seconds at the Royal City Inferno. Her time is well below the Olympic standard, and a victory will secure her place on her second Olympic team. Gale will also compete in the 200 metres, where she is ranked second with a time of 22.85 seconds.

Bianca Borgella is aiming to make her first Paralympic Team in the Para Ambulatory 100 metres. Borgella is currently the top-ranked T13 100-metre sprinter in the world, with a Canadian record of 11.91 seconds set last month in London. With no T13 200 metres event in Paris, Borgella will also contest the Open 200 metres alongside Gale.

Mid-Distance and Hurdles

Kevin Robertson and Stephen Evans, fresh off setting Club records, will be looking to improve upon their bronze medal performances from last year. Robertson recently ran the fastest 2000 metres by a Canadian in 34 years and enters the 3000 metres as the fifth seed with a time of 8:33.88. Evans, who set a Club record of 2:19.77 for 1000 metres, will leverage his powerful finishing kick in the 800 metres, aiming for a podium finish.

In the men’s 110-metre hurdles, all eyes will be on defending Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner. However, Lions fans will be closely watching David Adeleye, who aims to make the national podium for a second consecutive year. Adeleye, this year’s USports 60-metre hurdles runner-up, has a personal best of 13.84 seconds and is ranked third behind Warner and last year’s champion, Craig Thorne.

Promising Juniors

The junior ranks showcase a bright future, with several athletes poised for podium finishes this weekend.

Jorai Oppong-Nketiah, the youngest Lion at 16, missed the high school season due to a school transfer but set a new Canadian U18 record of 11.51 seconds last month in London. As the defending Canadian U16 champion, she tops the rankings heading into this weekend’s championship.

In the U20 men’s 400 metres, Zachary Jeggo, Stephan Balson, and William Sanders all surpassed the qualification standard. Jeggo leads with the second fastest performance in the nation (47.82), followed by Balson (48.27) and Sanders (48.64). Jeggo will also compete in the 400-metre hurdles, where he is the second fastest performer with a personal best of 52.97 seconds.

Quinn Coughlin is the top-ranked athlete in the U20 women’s 400-metre hurdles. After a fourth-place finish last year, she recently improved her lifetime best to 1:00.30 and aims to make the podium this weekend.

In the men’s 1500 metres, Nicolas Belan will battle for a top-two finish to secure his spot on the Canadian team for this year’s World U20 Championships. Belan set a personal best of 3:46.89 earlier this month in Hamilton.

Maddie Seaby, after an outstanding freshman season at the University of Louisville, is a medal contender in the U20 women’s 5000 metres. Her personal best of 16:35.43 ranks her second behind Alberta’s Chloe Turner.

Lastly, heptathlete Kathryn Moreland enters the U20 event ranked second in Canada. The second-year University of Ottawa student set a personal best of 4201 points at the Ottawa Spring Kick Start in May.

For live results from this year’s championship, visit Athletics Canada website. You can also catch all the action on AthleticsCanada.tv (subscription required).

Copyright Bertrand Brault/Athletics Canada

Jacques hurdles to bronze medal at Olympic Trials

by linkinbioNational

It wasn’t an ideal scene for a national final, but for Farah Jacques and her fellow competitors, they still managed to put on a show. With a significant amount of rain beating down on the Claude Robillard Stadium and the Canadian Olympic Trials, organizers took the decision to push the start of the 100 metre hurdles a few hours in hopes of gaining some reprieve from Mother Nature. Despite the prayers to the weather gods, and some fervent squeegeeing it was still a wet and raining race.

However, the rain drops didn’t slow the field down as Farah Jacques sped her way to a bronze medal and the second fastest time of her season (13.44 w+2.3).  Behind gold and silver medalists Michelle Harrison and Mariam Abdul-Rashid, Jacques was in a constant battle over all ten barriers with Astrid Nyame. In the end it was Jacques faster feet off the final hurdle and a well time lean that brought her home the bronze, just four hundredths ahead of Nyame. Jacques had previously won hurdles bronze in 2018.

Across the pond at the French Olympic trials, Maeliss Trapeau posted a seventh place finish in the 800 metre event. The recent University of Ottawa graduate had been struggling with a nagging injury most of the spring, only opening her season two weeks ago. However, a strong push in the homestretch of the semi-final earned her the last spot in the final, which she put to good use with a seasonal best effort of 2:05.26. The time was also the fourth fastest of her career.

With the conclusion of the Olympic Trials, next up for the Lions is Tuesday’s Montreal Track Classic that should see six Lions in action including Trials medalists Farah Jacques and Melissa Bishop-Nriagu.

Final decisions on members of Canada’s Olympic Team heading to Tokyo will be out later this week and we will have a run down of Lions heading to Japan when that is announced.

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Bishop-Nriagu takes silver in Olympic Trials 800

by linkinbioNational

The 2021 Trials in Montreal kicked off Friday night with a silver medal at 800 metres for Melissa Bishop-Nriagu.The two-time Olympian hit the Olympic standard of 1:59.50 dead on Friday night at the Claude-Robillard Stadium, marking the third time she’s made the mark this season.

From the moment the gun went off, Bishop-Nriagu made a bee line for the front of the pack and comfortably lead the field through splits of 57 seconds and 1:28 for 400 and 600 metres respectively. The four-time Canadian champion entered the home stretch with her sights on making it five golds, but British Columbia’s Lindsay Butterworth, who had spent most of the race in third, was able to find another gear in the final 100 and was able to pass Bishop-Nriagu to take gold.

“I think it was good. The conditions really cleared up for us, and I already have Olympic standard, so this is an opportunity for me to get out and try something new and we did,” said Bishop-Nriagu of her race and tactics.

Next up in her Olympic preparation, Melissa will head to Europe to race in the Monaco and London Diamond League events before leaving for Tokyo. Bishop-Nriagu set her Canadian record of 1:57.01 in Monaco in 2017.

In the men’s 800 metres, the results largely played out according to the pre-race seeds, with Stephen Evans running 1:50.23 to finish fourth. It was the highest finish at the Canadian Championships for the 24 year old.

You can find full race videos of both 800 metre finals on our Instagram.

The Trials continue today with Farah Jacques contesting the 100 metre hurdles at 1pm. Catch all the action live on AthleticsCanada.tv and use the code: BellTrials

(Ottawa, Canada---February 1997) Stephen Evans of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club running to win running in the 600m at the Carleton Ravens U-Sport Last Chance Qualifier in the The Dome at Lois Riel, Ottawa. 2020 Copyright Photo Sean W Burges / Mundo Sport Images.

Olympic Trials kick off with Bishop-Nriagu and Evans in 800m

by linkinbioNationalUncategorized

The Canadian Championships and Olympic Trials kick off today at Claude-Robillard Stadium in Montreal. The Lions will be represented by its smallest delegation at nationals since the Club’s earliest years with just three athletes set to compete.

Participation at the championship has been limited to in scope to adhere to public health guidelines, with nearly every event offered capping participation at eight athletes. In addition, the event’s program has been limited to events with Olympic or Paralympic qualification implications.

Up first on Friday is Melissa Bishop-Nriagu as she looks to cement her position on her third successive Olympic team at 800 metres. The former World medalist has already surpassed the Olympic standard of 1:59.50 this season with a 1:58.62 clocking last month in California. In addition to her early season success at 800, the Eganville native has also shown some strength with her new Club record of 4:04.42 at 1500 metres. While she enters as the favourite, it is expected Bishop-Nriagu will be pressed by defending Canadian champion Maddie Kelly and Lindsey Butterworth, who are both within a second of dipping under the Olympic standard.

Stephen Evans will follow in the men’s 800 metres where he enters the event ranked fourth and is looking for his first national medal outdoors. With the lock down in Ottawa hampering access to training facilities and competition, the former USports champion spent most of his spring training and competing in the United States. Evans is undoubtedly looking to build off his seasonal best of 1:49.47 earlier this month at an event in Nashville.

The women’s 800 metres is scheduled for 7pm with the men’s race following at 7:30pm. You can watch both events live on AthleticsCanada.tv using the CODE: BellTrials