Athletics Canada announces 2017 awards finalists

The three finalists for 2017 Track Athlete of the Year are para-athletics world champ Brent Lakatos, 800m national record-holder Melissa Bishop and 5,000m/10,000m star Mohammed Ahmed, Athletics Canada announced last month. 

 

 

Lakatos, who lives in Britain, dominated the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, taking home four gold medals (in the T53 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m). He lives in the U.K. with his wife, British paralympic sprinter and long jumper Stefanie Reid.

 

Canadian women’s 800m record holder Melissa Bishop had a solid year in 2017, placing fifth at the IAAF World Championships in London in August. She and sprinter/jumper Osi Nriagu were married in October 2017, and announced in February that they are expecting their first child. 

 

Ahmed, currently competing with Team Canada at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast, broke both the Canadian two-mile record (8:13.16) and the indoor 5,000m record (13:04.6) in 2017.

 

 

In other categories: finalists for Combined Events Athlete of the Year are 

heptathletes Nicole (Niki) Oudenaarden and Nina Schultz and 2014 Commonwealth Games decathlon gold medallist Damian Warner.

 

 

Wheelchair Athlete of the Year: Brent Lakatos, Jessica Frotten and Austin Smeenk.

 

Development Coach of the Year:  Mark Cocks, Randy Millar and Harold Willers.