Canada’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford and Matti Erickson hit world championship standards
It was a spicy weekend of racing for Canadian middle-distance stars
Sean Burges/Mundo Sport Images/Kevin Morris
A weekend of outstanding Canadian performances was headlined by Toronto’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford and Nelson B.C.’s Matthew (Matti) Erickson, who achieved world-championship-qualifying marks in the 1,500m and 800m, respectively.
At Friday’s Morton Games in Dublin, DeBues-Stafford, a two-time Olympian, took another huge step forward in her comeback season, clocking 4:01.19 to shave 0.81 seconds off her previous season’s best . Erickson’s breakthrough run came the following day at the Sound Running Sunset Tour held at Jack Kemp Stadium in Los Angeles, where he took third in a huge personal best of 1:44.49.
View this post on Instagram
DeBues-Stafford took second to Lithuania’s Gabija Galvydytė, who clocked 4:00.71. The Canadian’s performance marks her second world standard of the 2025; last month, she also dipped under the 5,000m standard of 14:50, clocking 14:47.83. After falling short of qualifying for Paris 2024 in both events, the 29-year-old has made it clear: she’s far from finished.
View this post on Instagram
Erickson’s 1:44.49 beats the qualifying mark of 1:44.50 by one hundredth of a second and smashes his previous personal best of 1:45.74 by more than a full second. The performance moves Erickson from 13th to fourth on the all-time Canadian list over the distance.
Saturday’s race follows a standout season with the Oregon Ducks. Last fall, he became the first Canadian track athlete to sign a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal with Nike, before claiming the NCAA indoor 800m title and narrowly missing the sweep with a runner-up finish at NCAA outdoors.
Saturday’s Sound Running 800m came down to the wire, with Jamaica’s Navasky Anderson taking the win in 1:44.40–a new national record–and Abe Alvarado of the U.S. edging Erickson for second in 1:44.47.
Plourde surges to 1,500m best
Montreal’s Simone Plourde also continued her upward trajectory in the women’s 1,500m in L.A., taking third in a new personal best of 4:02.91–nearly a full second faster than her 4:03.83 personal best set at last month’s Portland Track Festival.
Americans Josette Andrews and Riley Chamberlain claimed first and second in 4:00.10 and 4:02.03, respectively. Toronto’s Lucia Stafford narrowly missed the podium, taking fourth in 4:04.95.
Plourde now ranks as the second-fastest Canadian woman over 1,500m this year, sitting behind only Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, who ran 4:01.19 at Friday’s Morton Games in Dublin. Kate Current of Cobourg, Ont., ranks third with her recent 4:03.06 breakthrough, with Stafford in fourth with her season’s best of 4:03.54.
Fetherstonhaugh takes steeplechase win
In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Grace Fetherstonhaugh of New Westminster, B.C., ran away from the field to win in a personal best of 9:28.42–her first time breaking the 9:30 barrier and a near six-second margin of victory.
Like DeBues-Stafford, Erickson and Plourde, Fetherstonhaugh has been on a tear this season. Also at last month’s Portland Track Festival, the 24-year-old posted back-to-back personal bests in the steeplechase and the 1,500m with times of 9:31.08 and 4:06.76, respectively.
See here for full results from the Sound Running Sunset Tour.
Click here for full results from the Morton Games.
