5,000m races kick off 2016 Canadian Track & Field Championships

The marquis events on Thursday evening are the Men’s and Women’s 5,000m. Twelve and a half laps of the track will determine who will be crowned national champions and in some cases, who secures a spot on the Olympic team in Rio.

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For that to happen, an athlete must have run the Athletics Canada qualifying time as well as finish top two at these Canadian Championships. Additional athletes who finish top 8 (or top half of the field) may be nominated to the team if they have also met the qualifying standard and proven their competitive readiness.

You can watch all the weekend’s events live on AthleticsCanada.tv starting at 1:00pm EDT on Thursday.

Women’s 5000m – Thursday at 7:55 p.m. MDT

The Olympic standard of 15:24.00 was bested by three women during the qualifying period. Jessica O’Connell of Calgary, Alta. represented Canada at last summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto as well as the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her mark of 15:06.44 from 2015 is the fastest qualifier and she is considered a favorite to make her first Olympic team. Andrea Seccafien of Guelph, Ont. ran her fastest time (15:17.81) earlier this year in May and seems to be peaking at just the right time. Rachel Cliff of Vancouver, B.C. left it late and cut it very close in besting the standard by only 0.06 seconds (15:23.94) a few weeks ago.

The field of 17 also includes Canadian marathon record holder Lanni Marchant of London, Ont. who should not be discounted. Marchant has already qualified to run the 10,000m in Rio as well as hit the mark for the marathon. She has stated publicly that she intends to run both events in Rio, however it is still unclear whether Athletics Canada will allow it.

RELATED: Marchant not likely to be allowed to run marathon in 2016 Rio Olympics

Natasha Wodak of Vancouver, B.C. will also be running the 5,000m even though she is training to run the 10,000m in Rio. Wodak is also the Canadian record holder in that event with a time of 31:41.59. Other notable entries include Natasha Labeaud and Sasha Gollish of Toronto.

Men’s 5000m – Thursday at 8:15 p.m. MDT

Four men achieved the Olympic standard of 13:25.00 including Canadian record holder Mohammed Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ont. Ahmed set the national record earlier this year at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. where he ran 13:01.74. Cameron Levins of Black Creek, B.C. also holds a national record, but in the 10,000m (27:07.51) and will almost certainly be competing that distance in Rio. Having run 13:20.68, he will also toe the line on Thursday where a top two finish would send him to Rio where he could possibly double up and run both (the 5,000m and 10,000m). Luc Bruchet of White Rock, B.C. also dipped just under the qualifying time having run 13:24.10.

Matt Hughes, a Canadian record holder in the 3,000 steeplechase, had the second fastest qualifying time (13:19.56) but is sitting out the 5,000m in favour of his signature event which runs Saturday.

There are 24 men in total in the 5,000m field including several dark horses such as Ross Proudfoot, Peter Corrigan and Geoffrey Martinson.