Canadians to watch a world championships: Women

The IAAF World Championships in Athletics begin tonight (Saturday in Beijing) and many of Canada’s top women will be competing over the next week in a meet that is considered second to only to the Olympics.

Yesterday we noted some of Canada’s men to watch on the track. Here are some of Canada’s top women to watch for this week:

Nicole Sifuentes

Sifuentes is entered to race the double 1,500m and 5,000m this week, making her schedule heavier than other international championships she has raced, but with a world indoor bronze medal in the 1,500m to her name and a new personal best in the 5,000m, see seems prepared.

Sifuentes recently finished runner-up at the Pan Am Games in Toronto

She competes early in the competition, with 1,500m heats scheduled for 11:15 a.m. local time Saturday morning (11:15 p.m. Friday evening EDT). The 5,000m heats are next Thursday, Aug. 27.

Melissa Bishop

Fresh off a gold-medal performance at the Pan Am Games, Bishop is one of Canada’s best 800m runners. Beaten at the national championships earlier by Canada’s other 800m entrant, Fiona Benson, Bishop is rounding into form right on schedule for world championships. She’s competed at the Olympics and world championships before but has yet to qualify for a final, though with a new personal best ranking her among the best in the world this season, it could be a breakout year.

The women’s 800m heats are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 10:25 a.m. local time (10:25 p.m. EDT).

Lanni Marchant

Canada’s national marathon record-holder has spent the season on the track racing the 10,000m. Though it was her friend, Natasha Wodak, who set the national 10,000m record early in the season, Marchant has been performing well in big races recently, including a bronze at the Pan Am Games.

She’s proven she can perform well at a number of distances and has competed at a number of international meets. She’ll also be lining up alongside Wodak.

The women’s 10,000m is Monday at 8:35 p.m. (8:35 a.m. EDT).

Natasha Wodak

The other half of Canada’s 10,000m team and friend of Marchant’s, she’s the fastest Canadian to ever race the event, breaking the national record early in the season in California. She struggled in the summer heat at the Pan American Games but the goal has been world championships all year and it’s difficult to count out a strong performance from a national record-holder.

As noted above, the women’s 10,000m is scheduled for Monday.

Brianne Theisen-Eaton

One of Canada’s best chances for gold at championships, Theisen-Eaton will compete in the heptathlon on Saturday and Sunday. She’s one of the best in the world at her seven-event discipline and is looking for her first world championship gold. She finished second in 2013 in Moscow. She won the Commonwealth Games last year in Glasgow, Scotland, and opted to compete only in the long jump at the recent Pan Am Games.

Her husband, Ashton Eaton, will contest the decathlon, an event he holds the world record in. Will they be able to pull off a double-gold performance?