Canada’s Regan Yee to chase Olympic standard at Shanghai Diamond League

After delivering one of the fastest season openers of her career last weekend at the Xiamen Diamond League in China, Regan Yee, of South Hazelton, B.C., continues her pursuit of the Olympic standard at the upcoming second stop of the Diamond League season in Shanghai on Saturday.

Yee aims to become only the second Canadian female distance runner (from 800m to the marathon) to meet the standard in her event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. (The sole Canadian female athlete to achieve this so far is Malindi Elmore in the marathon.)

To inch closer to Paris, Yee must run under 9:23.00 in the 3,000m steeplechase, a mere 1.82 seconds faster than her personal best of 9:24.82. Genevieve Lalonde is the only Canadian runner in history who has run faster, with her national record of 9:22.40, set during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

While striving for the standard remains Yee’s primary goal in Shanghai, she emphasizes the priceless experience she’ll gain from competing against the world’s top athletes in the event (such as world record holder and 2019 world champion Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya). “Regardless of whether I achieve the standard here, I believe these early Diamond Leagues will be valuable later in the season,” says Yee. “Racing against the world’s best and learning to perform under pressure will help my performance.”

Yee will be one of a dozen athletes in the Shanghai Diamond League women’s steeplechase field, all of them vying for the Olympic standard. “It’s the objective for most of us,” says Yee. “So having a group to pursue it with will be helpful.”

The women’s 3,000m steeplechase event is currently at its pinnacle in Canada. The 28-year-old has become one of the veterans in the event, representing Canada at three world championships (2019, 2022 and 2023) and one Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020). She now faces the challenge of warding off a surge of young stars eager to make their Olympic debut, with defending Canadian XC champion Ceili McCabe leading the charge. McCabe, just 22, boasts three of the fastest 10 Canadian steeple times in history and shows no signs of slowing down.

“Having such a deep women’s field in Canada is really exciting to see,” says Yee. “There’s four women I think within (or close to) the qualifying standard and only three of us can make the team. But you can’t focus on anyone but yourself.”

Yee will be one of two Canadian athletes at Saturday’s Shanghai Diamond League looking to build on strong season-opening performances. Nova Scotia’s Sarah Mitton, who broke the Canadian shot put record (twice)  en route to winning gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships last month in Glasgow, was fourth last week in Xiamen, with a best throw of 19.35 metres on her second attempt out of five. Now, she aims to challenge last week’s victor and reigning Olympic shot put champion, Gong Lijiao of China.

How to watch

You can stream Saturday’s Shanghai Diamond League live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports App, and CBC Gem. Coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET, with Regan Yee in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase scheduled for 7:28 a.m.