Crystal Emmanuel takes eighth Canadian championship title on Day 1 of Olympic Trials

Day one of the Canadian Olympic trials is underway and for many athletes, this is one of their final opportunities to either run under the Olympic standard or improve their place in the world rankings enough to give themselves a shot at making the Canadian Olympic team; podium finishers at the national championship will certainly receive a boost to their ranking, though with so many competitions happening pre-Olympics, the world rankings are constantly being updated. The first day of competition featured a blustery wind that played havoc with several athletes’ hopes for fast times.

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Women’s 400m hurdles

2016 Olympian Noelle Montcalm, won the women’s 400m hurdles in a season’s best of 56.34, followed by Kelsey Balkwill in 57.36 and Taysia Radoslav in 59.21.

Women’s 400m

Alicia Brown won the women’s 400m just outside the Olympic standard (51.35) in 51.95 (a season’s best for Brown), with Micha Powell in second place (52.73) and Zoe Sherar third, in 53.02.

Women’s 100m

After a timing problem was called late in the women’s 100m, the race was re-run shortly after. Crystal Emmanuel took the win, for her eighth Canadian championship title, in a season’s best 11.18 – three hundredths of a second off the Olympic standard of 11.15 (Emmanuel has the standard in the 200m.) Second and third place went to Khamica Bingham and Shyvonn Roxborough, in 11.24 and 11.48, respectively – a huge improvement for Bingham over her fourth-place result in 2019. 2016 Paralympian Marissa Papaconstaninou had a strong race, finishing in 13.48, just outside the Olympic standard of 13.15.

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Men’s 400m

After a strong start and first 200m by Austin Cole (who finished fifth, in 47.10), Philip Osei won the 400m in 46.60, followed by Miles Misener-Daley in 46.71 and Nathan George in 46.75. Misener-Daly won the 100m, 200m and 400m at OFSAA in 2019 and now competes for UCLA. The Olympic standard is 44.90, but only 18 men across the world have run under that mark, and there are 48 spots available, so there’s a good chance some athletes will make the cut.

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Men’s 100m

After the field was called back due to one runner not having heard the “set” instruction, Aaron Brown took the win in 10.12, followed by Jerome Blake and Bolade Ajomale 10.27 and 10.36, respectively. None of these men have qualified in the 100m, but Brown has already run Olympic standard in the 200m.

Men’s decathlon

After five events, Taylor Ehrhardt is in the lead with 3318 points, followed by Nathaniel Mechler with 3047 points and Telvin Tavernier with 2868 points.

Athletes will be back on the track at 5:30 p.m. ET, with the men’s and women’s 800m set to begin at 7 p.m. ET. The men’s and women’s steeplechase is also on the ticket for tonight, beginning with the men’s race at 8 p.m.