Stafford sisters post near-historic results on back-to-back days

Gabriela DeBues-Stafford and Lucia Stafford were in action over the weekend, and while the sisters competed thousands of kilometres apart and on separate days, they both ran to near-historic results. On Friday, Lucia hit the track in Toronto for the second meet of Athletics Ontario’s High Performance Series. She won the 1,000m race in 2:37.73, finishing just off the Canadian indoor record of 2:37.04. A day later, Gabriela won her first race with the Bowerman Track Club (BTC), taking a 3,000m in Arizona in 8:38.51, which is the third-fastest result in Canadian history. 

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Lucia’s quick start to 2021

On January 29, Lucia raced a 1,500m at the first Athletics Ontario High Performance Series meet, and she ran to an incredible 4:05.70. This time not only smashed her indoor PB of 4:10.22, but it is also a world-leading time for 2021 and the second-fastest indoor result ever run by a Canadian. The only Canadian woman to have run faster than Lucia is none other than her sister, who set the national indoor record of 4:00.80 at the 2020 Millrose Games in New York City. 

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Just a week after that near-record run, Lucia ran yet another in the 1,000m on Friday night. Her 2:37.73 in Toronto was less than a second off Jenna Westaway‘s national record, which she set in 2019. Lucia’s result in the 1,000m is the second-fastest run of the year so far. Maddy Kelly also raced the 1,000m on Friday, and she crossed the line in 2:44.36. 

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Gabriela’s Bowerman Track Club debut 

Gabriela’s debut in a BTC uniform couldn’t have gone much better. She won the race by close to two seconds, crossing the line well ahead of second- and third-place Colleen Quigley (8:40.23) and Karissa Schweizer (8:40.25). After the race, the BTC Instagram page featured Gabriela in a story to quickly recap her run. 

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“Season opener, so it felt good,” she said. “It’s been a rough year, so just happy to get back out there and to finish strong.” Going into the run, Gabriela hadn’t raced since early August, and before that, her last event had come in February. Despite hardly racing in the past 12 months, she looked like the Gabriela that the world got to know in 2019, when she broke eight Canadian records. She finished six seconds off Angela Chalmers‘s  8:32.17 national 3,000m record on Saturday, but it’s only the start of the season, and Gabriela will have plenty of chances to add to her resume as the year continues.