Max Davies and Audrey Leduc named Under Armour U Sports Athletes of the Week
University of Guelph runner Max Davies became the 75th Canadian man to run a sub-four-minute mile, earning top honours for Under Armour U Sports Athlete of the Week
Photo by:
Louis Charland and Scott Peel
Canadian Running and Under Armour have teamed up for the 2024 Canadian U Sports indoor track and field season to highlight some of the top homegrown talents across the country. Each week leading up to the 2024 U Sports Indoor Track and Field Championships in Winnipeg this March, Canadian Running will select one male and female track and field athlete as the Under Armour Athlete of the Week.
Each week, the award will go to a male and female U Sports track and field athlete who achieved a standout performance, broke a school record or crushed a personal best. Each week of the U Sports 2024 season, these athletes will be featured on Canadian Running and awarded an Under Armour prize pack. This week we highlight two sensational athletes: middle-distance runner Max Davies of Guelph University and 60m sprinter Audrey Leduc of Université Laval for their performances between Jan. 22-28.
Female Athlete of the Week: Audrey Leduc–women’s 60m
Laval sprinter Audrey Leduc had a weekend to remember at the McGill Team Challenge in Montreal on Jan 26-27. The 24-year-old business student from Gatineau, Que., clocked a new personal best of 7.29 seconds in the women’s 60m, equalling the fastest 60m time by a Canadian woman in 2024. Leduc’s time broke Laval’s 60m school record of 7.31 seconds, set in 2009. But Leduc was not done; she also helped the Laval women’s 4x200m relay team to gold at the McGill Team Challenge, setting a new school, conference and Quebec provincial record of 1:37.66. To top it off, she finished second in the long jump, with a season’s-best jump of 5.75 metres.
“I could not be happier with my race,” Leduc told Canadian Running about her 60m performance. “Setting the school record has been a goal since the first day I came to Université Laval.” Her time also equals the Quebec provincial 60m record of 7.29 seconds, set by Kimberly Hyacinthe in 2014.
Leduc has lofty goals for the remainder of the U Sports season. “I want to win the 60 metres and defend my long jump title,” she says. Outside of U Sports, her dream is to be on the Canadian Olympic team in Paris. “I want to qualify for the 100m and the 4x100m relay team,” says Leduc.
Male Athlete of the Week: Max Davies–men’s 1,500m
Canada has its 75th sub-four-minute miler, and his name is Max Davies. On Saturday at the Penn State Open in University Park, Penn., Davies won the men’s mile in a new Guelph Gryphons school record time of 3:59.24. His time surpassed his former teammate Alec Purnell’s record of 3:59.72 from last year. Davies was not finished; the 20-year-old also earned a massive new personal best in the 3,000m, recording the fastest time by a Canadian U Sports athlete this year (8:00.24).
Davies told Canadian Running that breaking the four-minute mile mark has been a goal since he started running. “I am very happy with my performances and happy to call myself a sub-4 miler,” he says. His goal was also to break the eight-minute mark for 3K, but since he does not race over 3,000m very much, he says he can’t complain about having achieved a personal best.
Despite joining the sub-four-minute mile club, Davies is eager to get back on the track to race another mile, but this time in Boston. “The goal is to have some fun and race fast at OUAs and U Sports,” he says. “I am planning on running the 1,500m, 1,000m, and the 4x800m relay.”
Avery Pearson and Jude Wheeler-Dee named Under Armour U Sports Athletes of the Week
If you would like to nominate a Canadian U Sports athlete for Under Armour Athlete of the Week, send @canadianrunning a message on Instagram or email marley@runningmagazine.ca.
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