Evan Burke 4th at Youth Olympic Games in U18 3,000m Canadian record

? ? ? Evan Burke finishes 4th in the 3000m at the @BuenosAires2018 Youth Olympic Games in a new ?? U18 record of 8:14.99 ? ? ? pic.twitter.com/PS1seg3nT6

— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) October 11, 2018

Evan Burke of London, Ont. was fourth yesterday in the Youth Olympics 3,000m in a Canadian U18 record time of 8:14.99. The 17-year-old bettered his 2018 outdoor personal best of 8:23.00 by nearly 10 seconds. 

Burke took down Michael Woods’ 3,000m record of 8:16.37. Woods went on to become one of Canada’s best cyclists, finishing third at the UCI Road World Championships two weeks ago. 

RELATED: Former Canadian runner finishes third at UCI Road World Championships

The Youth Olympics sees roughly 4,000 young athletes from many different sports come together to compete on the world stage. 

Canadian distance star Justyn Knight tweeted at Burke to go and get the OFSAA 3,000m record this spring at the 2019 OFSAA Track and Field Championships. The senior men’s 3,000m record has stood for over 30 years. Greg Anderson ran 8:00.20 in 1987 to set the record. Even Knight himself couldn’t take the record down, despite winning OFSAA in 2014. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bou8I-9BXPJ/?hl=en&taken-by=athleticscanada

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Hey, Justyn! Evan wanted to respond but doesn’t have Twitter, so here’s what he said! pic.twitter.com/xngf5gcBgr

— tyronetraher (@jumanjitraher) October 12, 2018

Burke responded to Knight saying that he will try his best. 

An eight flat 3,000m in high school is a very difficult task, especially considering that OFSAA, being a championship race, will usually go out slowly and finish strong. The emphasis at OFSAA is placed on the win, not so much the time. Burke was second in 2018 OFSAA 3,000m just behind Marcus Kemp of St. Mary’s high school in Kitchener, Ont. 

Other Canadian athletes in action at the Youth Olympics today are Skyler York in the 2,000m steeplechase, Meredith Boyer also in the steeplechase and Kendra Lewis in the 1,500m. 

You can catch all of the action live at cbcsports.ca. Track and field gets underway at 2 p.m.