2023-08-15 13:51:28
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull) August 15, 2023
Canada will send a strong contingent of 53 athletes (24 men and 29 women) to the World Athletics World Championships taking place August 19-27 in Budapest, Hungary.
Team Canada had success at the last World Championships with a collection of four medals. The men’s 4x100m relay team won gold, Pierce LePage won silver in the decathlon as did Camryn Rogers in the hammer throw, while Marco Arop won bronze in the 800m. All of these athletes are back to compete in this year’s edition with the goal of surpassing their results from last year.
Several athletes who were just missed out on the podium last year (Sarah Mitton finished fourth in the shot put following a tiebreaker!) will travel to Budapest with the firm intention of getting on the podium this time.
Here are some key athletes to watch:
Throwing events
Camryn Rogers — Hammer Throw
Camryn Rogers will head to the World Championships following a strong season in which she set a new Canadian record of 78.62m at the end of May. She has surpassed the 77-metre mark six times this year, including at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in late July. A silver medalist in the hammer throw at the 2022 World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, Ore., Rogers is aiming for the top step of the podium in Budapest.
Canada’s Camryn Rogers competes in qualifying for the women’s hammer throw event at the World Championships in Athletics, Friday, July 15, 2022, in Eugene, Oregon. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
“I’m really hoping to keep the momentum going by showing up there to do better than last year,” Rogers said. To have been able to win a medal last year was an extraordinary experience and a great privilege. I can’t wait to get back out there and show everything we’ve done this year and give it our all on the pitch when it matters most. »
Also keep an eye out for last year’s fifth-place finisher, Jillian Weir, and rising men’s hammer throw star, Ethan Katzberg. The 21-year-old has had a stellar year and will come to Budapest as the third-place holder in the world rankings.
Sarah Mitton — Shot Put
Sarah Mitton also had a great season, including her first victory on the Diamond League circuit in Oslo, Norway in June.
After missing out on the podium last year in a tiebreaker, Mitton is in great shape and ready to fight for one of the three podium steps in Budapest. What’s more, she’s just coming off her best performances, as she clocked her two best distances of the season at the end of July, hitting 19.83m at the Harry Jerome Classic and 19.69m for defend his Canadian title. These exploits come at the right time and place her among the best on the eve of the World Championships.
Road races
Evan Dunfee — Marche
Veteran walker Evan Dunfee brings experience to Team Canada at the World Championships. Dunfee won bronze at Tokyo 2020 and the 2019 World Championships in addition to finishing just off the podium at Rio 2016. Those remarkable results came in the 50km event which has since been dropped from the international schedule. At last year’s World Championships, Dunfee finished sixth in the new 35km race.
In Budapest, Dunfee will compete for the first time in seven years in a 20km World Championships, as well as the 35km race. The 20 km walk is the very first event of the competition.
Evan Dunfee competes in the 35k race walk event at the 2022 World Championships in Athletics at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. July 24, 2022. Photo: Claus Andersen/Athletics Canada Natasha Wodak — Marathon
Natasha Wodak is another Team Canada member with considerable international experience, spanning from the 2015 Pan American Games to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At 41, Wodak is a model of longevity in the sport.
After competing in the 10,000m at Rio 2016, Wodak moved on to the marathon at Tokyo 2020, where she finished 13th. This result was achieved in very hot weather in Sapporo, Japan, an experience that will hopefully come in handy in what will likely be another wet race in Budapest.
Wodak set the Canadian women’s marathon record at the Berlin Marathon in September 2022 with a time of 2:23:12.
Sprint races
Jerome Blake, Aaron Brown, Andre De Grasse and Brendon Rodney – 4x100m, 100m, 200m relay
Reigning men’s 4x100m relay world champions Jerome Blake, Aaron Brown, Andre De Grasse and Brendon Rodney will attempt to defend their title in Budapest. The team set a Canadian record in Eugene by running the distance in 37.48 seconds to win gold.
The foursome also received an extra dose of confidence following receiving their reassigned medals from the Tokyo 2020 Games at the Canadian Championships in July. The four Canadians originally won the bronze medal, but ultimately inherited the silver medal following a member of the British team violated anti-doping rules.
Canada’s 4x100m relay team Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse pose with their silver medals during their Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games medal re-distribution ceremony at the 2023 Canadian Athletics Championships in Langley , B.C., July 29, 2023. Photo by Paige Taylor White/COC
All four athletes are also competing in individual events: Brown, De Grasse and Rodney are competing in the 200m while Rodney and Blake are competing in the 100m.
“We know what we have to do now and we just have to be ready to take on the rest of the world,” Rodney explained. Brown agrees: “We need to tweak some things. We push each other to improve, so we know our weaknesses and our strengths. We will just work on our shortcomings and prepare for Budapest”.
Middle distance races
Marco Arop — 800m
Marco Arop will head to Budapest as the man to beat having spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the 800m world rankings. He has a personal best of 1:43.26 and an international reputation as a front runner who likes to take the lead from the start.
The 2022 World Championship bronze medalist is fresh off defending his 800m title at the Canadian Championships. He has been on the Diamond League podium twice this season.
Background tests
Mohammed Ahmed — 5000 m, 10 000 m
You can’t talk regarding long distance running in Canada without talking regarding Mohammed Ahmed. The athlete who took part in three Olympic Games became the first Canadian to win a medal in the 5000m at the World Championships (bronze in 2019) and at the Olympic Games (silver in Tokyo 2020). Ahmed was kept off the podium at last year’s World Championships, finishing fifth in the 5,000m and sixth in the 10,000m. He is hoping for two good results this year as he competes in both events.
Ahmed is the holder of all Canadian records in distances ranging from 3000m to 10,000m. He will be joined in the 5,000m by Canadian 5km road record holder Ben Flanagan, who set the mark in April 2023.
Mohammed Ahmed competes in the Men’s 5000m at the 2022 World Athletics World Championships, at Hayward Field, in Eugene, Oregon on July 21, 2022. Photo: Claus Andersen / Athletics Canada
Events combined
Damian Warner — Decathlon
Damian Warner knows how to win decathlon medals in major international meets. During his career, he won silver at the World Championships in 2015, bronze in 2013 and 2019, then Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Rio 2016.
Warner’s international successes increased the awareness of combined events in Canada. As he pointed out following the last Canadian Championships, there were only four decathletes competing when he competed at his first Canadian Championships, while in 2023 there were 51!
Canada’s Damian Warner competes in the javelin throw in the decathlon event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Pierce LePage — Decathlon
Warner isn’t Canada’s only decathlon star. Pierce LePage is one of Canada’s returning medalists at the World Championships and he will be looking to get on the podium once more in Budapest. LePage had a stellar 2023 season. In May, he set personal bests in the 100m and javelin to win gold at the prestigious Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria, where Warner finished second.
The two Canadians are among the top five scorers in the decathlon this year. LePage is second with his mark of 8,700 points (one shy of his personal best) while Warner is fifth with 8,619 points, a performance however far from his national and Olympic record of 9,018 points achieved at Tokyo 2020.
Pierce Lepage of Canada competes in the shot put for the decathlon event at the World Athletics World Championships, Saturday July 23, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
You can follow the competition live on Radio-Canada Sports et CBC Sports.
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