Canada at the 2023 World Athletics Championships: our best year yet
Despite some notable disappointments, Canadians should be thrilled with our athletes' performances in Budapest
Photo by:
James Rhodes (@jrhodesathletics)
Last week’s 2023 World Athletics Championships was the most successful Canada has ever had, with four gold medals and two silver: Marco Arop brought home gold in the 800m, the same for Pierce LePage in the decathlon (both of those being Canada’s first-ever world titles in those events), with field athletes Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg claiming gold in the women’s and men’s hammer throw last week in Budapest. Sarah Mitton’s silver medal in the shot put and Damian Warner’s in the decathlon were the icing on the cake for a thrilling world championships for our Canadian athletes.
Thank you Budapest for the golden moments we will remember forever 🥇
📸: @James_Athletics pic.twitter.com/OWcBY4lva3
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) August 27, 2023
The World Athletics Championships have taken place every two years since 1983 (with the exception of the pandemic years, when the schedule was altered). This year, Canada tied with Spain (which also had four gold medals) for the second-highest number of world titles achieved; only the U.S. had more. Canada’s medals earned us 70 points in the placing tables, which puts us sixth among competing nations.
In addition to the six medals, Canadians scored seven personal bests, seven season’s bests and set two Canadian records (Evan Dunfee’s in the men’s 20 km race walk and Katzberg’s in the hammer throw).
New BLING 🥇👀
Gold looks good on you Marco!#WABudapest23 pic.twitter.com/iIL9WcYthj
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) August 27, 2023
In a CBC interview with The National’s Ian Hanomansing, commentator and 2003 world champion Perdita Felicien attributed Team Canada’s success to the hard work of the athletes and coaches, but also to significant improvements in Canada’s system for supporting high-performance track and field athletes, particularly in terms of improved access to medical and athletic therapy treatments.
There were some disappointments, most notably the lack of podium finishes for sprinter Andre De Grasse (the Olympic gold medallist in the 200m) or for the men’s 4x100m relay team (which won gold in Eugene); Moh Ahmed, who won bronze in the 5,000m in 2019 and silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, was also unable to reach the podium in either of his events, finishing seventh in the 5,000m and sixth in the 10,000m. Our women’s 4x400m relay team, who were also fourth in Eugene last year, just missed the podium again Sunday, despite going into the final in second position out of the heats, and despite the disqualification of the defending champions, Team USA.
“I think I just have to get better at dictating the race,”
– Moh Ahmed 🇨🇦 on what he thinks he needs to change to podium at Paris Olympics.#teamcanada #wabudapest23 pic.twitter.com/IHKUSZ9NVs
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) August 27, 2023
But despite the inevitable disappointments, Canadians’ success overall bodes well for next year’s Olympic Games, to be held in Paris from July 26 to Aug. 11, 2024. The next World Athletics Championships are scheduled to take place in Tokyo in 2025.
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