Ten Olympians to compete at Speed River Inferno

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The Speed River Inferno takes place Wednesday night in Guelph, Ont. at the University of Guelph’s Alumni Stadium. The event features a pre-meet, an elite meet, and the 10,000m Canadian Championships all in one evening. 

The pre-meet begins at 6:05 p.m. with the 200m, followed by the 800m.  Up next is the campus mile which is a road race around the University of Guelph campus that is open to all ages. The course begins at Creelman Hall and finishes with one lap of Alumni Stadium. 

The elite meet features an exciting line-up of ten Olympians competing across the various events. 

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Kate Van Buskirk is running below-distance to compete at the 800m for the first time in a while. The 5,000m runner had a stellar season opener at Payton Jordan running 15:16.34, but unfortunately suffered a fall at the Prefontaine Classic two weeks ago. American 1,500m runner Shannon Osika will also run the 800m. Osika was the runner-up at the B.A.A mile behind Canadian Nicole Sifuentes in April. 

RELATED: Sifuentes wins another B.A.A mile

Anthony Romaniw is a 2016 Olympian over 800m who’s set to run Wednesday evening. Romaniw will compete against two-time New Zealand Olympian Nick Willis. Beer-mile world record holder Corey Bellemore is also racing the 800m. Bellemore has had a strong 2018 outdoor season, competing in his first ever Diamond League competition at Doha in May. 

RELATED: Beer Mile World Record holder makes Diamond League debut

We made it across the border! ?? pic.twitter.com/35KGlKQSFz

— Nick Willis (@nickwillis) June 12, 2018

The women’s 1,500m brings a big showdown between Lauren Paquette, Gen Lalonde, and Lucia Stafford. Paquette threw down at the USATF Distance Classic 5,000m to run 15:19.17, just off her personal best of 15:14.45. Lalonde is a 2016 Olympian for the 3,000m steeplechase, who opened her season in Nashville last weekend. Stafford is the youngest of the group, but ran a huge personal best of 4:09.17 over 1,500m a week ago and shouldn’t be underestimated.  

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The men’s 1,500m includes University of Michigan students Connor Mora and Jordie Hewitt, along with Canadians Nick Falk, Jeff Tweedle and Sacha Smart, who are longtime Canadian track and field stand-outs. 

The men’s and women’s 10,000m championships will kick off at 8:20 p.m. Big names to watch in the 10,000m are Rachel Cliff and Kevin Blackney. 

The complete schedule for the main programme is featured below:

7:00pm – Women’s 400m
7:05pm – Men’s 400m
7:10pm – Women’s 800m
7:15pm – Men’s 800m
7:20pm – Women’s Pole Vault
7:20pm – Men’s Long Jump
7:25pm – Women’s 100 Hurdles
7:35pm – Men’s 110 Hurdles
7:45pm – Women’s 1500m
7:55pm – Men’s 1500m
8:05pm – Para Women’s 200m
8:10pm – Para Men’s 200m
8:15pm – Women’s 200m
8:20pm – Men’s 200m