Canadians post big results in Boston and Portland

With the Olympics less than two months away, Canadian athletes are fighting to improve their position to make the Tokyo 2021 team

Anne Francis May 30, 2021

Canadians once again achieved stellar results on the track this weekend, with many of their efforts to improve their positions vis a vis Olympic qualification rewarded handsomely.

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Gabriela DeBues-Stafford brought her PB in the 800m down from 2:00.03 just two weeks ago at the Sound Running Track Meet to an astonishing 1:58.70 Saturday evening, well under the Olympic standard of 1:59.50. Will Paulson achieved a new PB of 3:35.42 in the 1,500m, less than half a second off standard in the same race that high school senior Hobbs Kessler ran 3:34.36, breaking the U.S. high school record in the distance previously held by Alan Webb at 3:38.20.

Natalia Hawthorn scored a two-and-a-half-second PB in the 1,500m, narrowly missing standard with her 4:04.47, and Kate Van Buskirk came within .01 seconds of her own PB in the same race, after not having raced a 1,500m in three years.

And in the hotly contested women’s 5,000m, newly-minted Canadian 10,000m record holder Andrea Seccafien finished second in a new PB of 14:57.07, in a photo-finish a fraction of a second behind Australian national record holder Jessica Hull and almost three seconds faster than the time she ran at the World Championships in 2019. Just behind Seccafien in third was Julie-Anne Staehli, whose 14:57.50 finish was three seconds faster than her previous best, set just two weeks ago at Sound Running. This is the third time Staehli has brought down her PB this season, having won the Golden Games in April with a 15:02. Seccafien’s and Staehli’s results also give them the second and third fastest times in this event among the five Canadian women who have achieved the Olympic standard of 15:10.00 (DeBues-Stafford holds the fastest, at 14:44.1).

In the men’s 1,500m, Paralympian Nate Riech improved on his personal best and world record by a little over two seconds, posting a 3:47.89 finish.

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Earlier in the evening, Ben Flanagan won the 5,000m at the PT Qualifier meet sponsored by Tracksmith in Boston, while taking five seconds off his PB with a 13:20.67. With the Olympics less than two months away, Canadian athletes will be continuing to hunt for personal bests and Olympic qualifying times, providing track fans across the country with plenty of action on the oval.

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