22WIC_Lauren_Gale

Gale takes down another Canadian record

For the fourth meet in a row Lauren Gale has broken a Canadian record; however this time she had a little help. Running lead off on the 4×400 metre relay entry at last weekend’s World Indoor Championships, Gale helped Team Canada to a time of 3 minutes and 31.45 seconds as they placed fourth in their heat in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Despite the new Canadian indoor record, the team of Gale, Kyra Constantine, Natassha McDonald, and Sage Watson failed to advance to the final. The previous record of 3:36.03 had been set 22 years prior in Glasgow.

Gale now holds Canadian indoor records at 200 and 400 metres as well as the relay.

Closer to home, the outdoor season was kicking into full swing with a trio of Lions in action for their respective NCAA schools.

Competing at a dual meet in Mobile, Alabama, Tommy Nedow took top spot in the shot put, discus, and hammer throw. The Southeastern Louisiana student won his speciality, the discus, by an impressive five metres as his best throw on the day measured out at 52.35 metres. His winning throws in the shot put and hammer throw measured 16.39 and 51.41 metres respectively.

On home turf in Tempe, Arizona State University runner Keira Christie Galloway placed fifth in the 100 metre hurdles at the Baldy Castillo Invitational. The 22 year old’s time of 13.43 seconds currently ranks as the fourth fastest in the PAC-12 conference.

In Houston, Sharelle Samuel opened her season with victory at the Houston Spring Break Invitational. The Harvard senior took top spot in the 400 metre hurdles with a time of 1:01.64 – nearly three seconds clear of second place.

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Bishop-Nriagu finishes fourth at Oregon Relays

What was intended to be a fast race, with runners aiming for the Olympic standard of 1:59.50, quickly turned into a tactical effort Saturday in the 800 metres at the Oregon Relays Grand Prix Event. It wasn’t the race Melissa Bishop-Nriagu was hoping for, but what she got was a fourth place finish, three tenths behind 2019 world silver medalist Raevyn Rogers, in two minutes and 4.18 seconds. With the mercury hovering around 14 degrees celsius and the rain falling down on the brand new Hayward Field, the field was quite content to let the pace setter run away from as they hit the bell in 62.6 seconds. As the medalists began to pull slightly ahead of Bishop-Nriagu in the final 200 metres, the Canadian record holder was not able to match their surge.

“I’m fuming after that display of a race,” she posted to Instagram afterwards. Her takeaway from Saturday’s effort boiled down to one word – trust. “I could list a handful of thing that I trust in this sport and at the top of the list is me. I have to trust me.”

At the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa it was a mixed bag for the brothers Tommy and Tim Nedow. Tommy, the younger of the two competed, recorded a seasonal best in the discus by hurling  the two kilogram platter out to 51.06 metres – just missing out on the final by one spot.  However, the shot put was not as kind to either of the Nedow men as they each failed to record a mark – Tommy in Friday’s university section and Tim in Saturday’s invitational section.

Elsewhere, sprint hurdler Keira Christie-Galloway placed fourth at a race in Phoenix, Arizona while Stephen Evans finished fifth in Atlanta. Christie-Galloway, a junior at Arizona State University, stopped the clock at 13.86 seconds in her first race back from injury while Evans clocked in at one minute and 52.48 seconds for 800 metres.

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Jacques named to World Relays 4×100 metre team

Among the 24 athletes named to represent Canada at next month’s World Relays event in Chorzow, Poland was the familiar Farah Jacques. The 31-year old Jacques has been a mainstay in the relay program over the past five years. The event at Silesian Stadium May 1st and 2nd will mark the third straight appearance at the global relay championship for Jacques, who ran lead off for the 4×100 metre relay team at the 2017 event in Nassau, Bahamas and 2019 event in Yokohama, Japan. Jacques and the rest of Team Canada will prepare for the World Relays with a training camp on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge before travelling to Europe.

Coach Glenroy Gilbert will serve as head coach for Canada at the World Relays. Lion alums Alicia Brown (4x400m/Mixed 4x400m) and Shyvonne Roxborough (4x100m alternate) were also named to the team.

To read the full release from Athletics Canada, please click here.