News

Canadian hurdlers faring well at international meets

February 7, 2010
By Mihira Lakshman

Canada’s top women’s hurdling duo of Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Perdita Felicien continues to perform well on the  indoor track and field circuit.

Lopes-Schliep of Whitby, Ont., won the 60m-hurdles at the Sparkassen Cup in Germany, posting a time of 7.82 seconds on Saturday.

At the same meet, Canada’s Hilary Stellingwerf placed sixth in the 1500m in 4:17.79.

The German meet produced some noteworthy performances in two other women’s events.

In the 60m, Laverne Jones-Ferrette of the U.S. Virgin Islands won the race in 6.97 seconds, the sixth-best mark in history, just 0.05 seconds off the world record set by Irina Privalova.

And, Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar ran the third-fastest 3,000m race in history, clocking 8:24.46 for the win. You can read more about the Sparkassen Cup here at the IAAF website.

In Boston, at the Reebok Indoor Games, Felicien placed second in the 60m-hurdles in 8.01 seconds, just behind Damu Cherry of the U.S.

Also of note, Bernard Lagat shattered the American indoor record in the 5,000m, with a 13:11.50 clocking. He broke the previous record by almost seven seconds. Canada’s Reid Coolsaet was also entered, but did not finish.

While there is no Olympic or World championship competition in 2010 for the Canadian runners, the major event this year is the Commonwealth Games, in October in Delhi, India.