Brandon McBride joins Oregon Track Club Elite

Canadian 800m record holder Brandon McBride has parted ways with his former collegiate coach, Chris Woods, and will be joining Oregon Track Club Elite (OTC) for the 2022 season.

McBride will be joining fellow Canadian middle-distance runner William Paulson and the third-fastest 800m runner of all-time (1:41.73), Botswana’s Nijel Amos, who was second to the great David Rudisha at the 2012 London Olympics. “I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity with OTC,” McBride says. “They have a great middle-distance group.”

The Windsor, Ont. native holds a personal best time of 1:43.20, which is the fastest 800m time ever run by a Canadian. McBride has battled injuries in the last two seasons, which led him to a disappointing finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

Middle-distance runner Brandon McBride, who didn’t advance to the 800-metre semifinals at #Tokyo2020, has cut his season short to focus on getting healthy. @mcbride46 @CBCOlympics @AthleticsCanada

— Doug Harrison (@harrisoncbc) August 15, 2021

Since the Tokyo Olympics, McBride has been driven about getting back to 100 per cent: “I have my eyes on a return for the outdoor season,” he says.

He will now be coached by Mark Rowland, who has had a lot of success working with middle-distance runners Francine Niyonsaba, Ben Blankenship, Hanna Green and Amos.

For the past five years, McBride spent time with Windsor’s Border City AC and his old collegiate coach at Mississippi State University, with fellow Canadian 800m runner Marco Arop, who came off a career-best season on the Diamond League in 2021, with five podium finishes.

McBride is a two-time Olympian (2016 and 2020) and a World Championship finalist (2017).