Paralympian calls Lanni Marchant a “low-performing athlete”

There has been mixed reaction in the track and field community about the firing of Athletics Canada head coach Peter Eriksson. One athlete who is angry about the dismissal is Jeff Adams, one of Canada’s most decorated Paralympic athletes. He’s a six-time world champion in wheelchair athletics and has won 13 Paralympic medals dating back to 1992.

RELATED: Lanni Marchant on advocacy, gender and double standards in sports.

Eriksson’s firing comes after Canada had its highest medal count since 1932 reaching six podiums in Rio. Following the Dec. 9 announcement, Adams expressed displeasure with the move by Canada’s governing body for athletics in an Athletics Illustrated interview. Eriksson had been the Athletics Canada head coach since 2013.

“This decision was necessary to ensure sustainable international success,” said Athletics Canada CEO Rob Guy.

When interviewer Christopher Kelsall asked Adams of the positives that Eriksson did with Athletics Canada, the wheelchair athlete made a point that the former AC head coach would not engage in a public dispute with an athlete, citing Lanni Marchant’s situation. The comment was made regarding Marchant’s clash with Eriksson prior to the Olympics when it was unclear whether she would be allowed to compete in both the 10,000m and the marathon. She hit both the marathon and 10,000m Olympic standards and fulfilled the necessary criteria months ahead of the team naming. Eriksson refused to publicly comment on the matter.

The official team announcement was made after the Canadian Track and Field Championships in July.

“He [Peter Eriksson] wouldn’t engage in a public dispute with an athlete because it would have negatively affected the team culture that he was trying to create, and because it would have required him to explain why he wanted her to concentrate on her focus event – that she wasn’t nearly talented enough to attempt that kind of a double.”

While using the example of Marchant as a means to “frame” his point of Eriksson not giving athletes “special treatment,” Adams says “she’s a low-performing athlete and is just not competitive internationally. She was lapped at least twice in the 10,000-metres and finished around 3K behind the leaders in the marathon – that’s just so far off the pace that it’s unrealistic for her to ever even contemplate a top-16 performance.”

Eriksson has personally coached Adams to multiple world and Olympic titles.

Marchant, according to her times, is the best marathon and half-marathon runner Canada has ever seen. She finished 25th in the women’s 10,000m in Rio, the fastest 25-lap women’s race in history, and placed 24th in the women’s marathon.

Adams defends the statement by saying “This isn’t to say that she’s not an accomplished runner – she holds Canadian records, and has been Canadian champion, wonderful accomplishments. Having said that, held up against the best in the world, she doesn’t measure up.”

The two exchanged brief comments on Twitter after the Athletics Illustrated story was published on Dec. 13. When asked of Adams and his comments in Athletics Illustrated, Marchant told Canadian Running that “I would say that he is entitled to his opinions, however, I am of the school of thought that our opinions should be well reasoned and researched. I would have happily discussed my stance on Peter Eriksson’s role and subsequent firing had Jeff reached out prior to chatting with Athletics Illustrated.”

“In terms of his personal views on my athletic abilities, that’s all they are, his personal views,” she continues. “I know the calibre of athlete I am. I do not pretend to fully know or understand the demands of Paralympic competition, the depth of competition, or the issues of doping in those events etc., so I cannot (and would not) make comments about his or another athletes athletic abilities or accomplishments. We are all out here putting in hard work and trying our best to be our best.”

A new head coach for Athletics Canada has yet to be decided ahead of next summer’s IAAF World Championships in London.