It was a triumphant prelude to Paris for sa国际传媒’s track and field team.
A golden 2023 World Athletics championships that began in Budapest with Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo becoming the youngest male to win the hammer concluded over the weekend with a rare gold and silver sweep in the decathlon by Pierce LePage and Damian Warner as sa国际传媒 laid claim to the two best all-round athletes on the planet.
Camryn Rogers of Richmond won the women’s hammer to give sa国际传媒 the women’s and men’s sweep with Katzberg. Marco Arop won gold in the men’s 800 metres to surpass the previous best result by a Canadian – Victoria Sports Hall of Fame enshrined Gary Reed’s silver medal in 2007 at Osaka, Japan — in an event considered the deepest in any sport.
“I can’t even put it into words [when it] began dawning on me that I was going to be the world champion. It was incredible,” said Arop, in his post-race media scrum.
“That feeling when you’re passing guys … the momentum is such a great feeling. The progress is there and we just want to keep getting better each year. It’s an honour to represent sa国际传媒 and there are so many people I looked up to, and I know there will be plenty of younger athletes who will be inspired, and I’m grateful for it all.”
The four gold medals were the most by sa国际传媒 at the world championships and tied for second with Spain behind only the United States.
The six medals in total, including silver in the women’s shot by Sarah Mitton, gave sa国际传媒 sixth place on the medals table.
That’s not bad for a nation considered just a bunch of puck heads. That’s without sa国际传媒’s best marathoner, 2022 Eugene World Athletics Championships fourth-place Cam Levins of Black Creek who has already qualified for the Paris Olympics, and with an off-year by Andre De Grasse and sa国际传媒’s usually-explosive sprinters.
Throw in three fourth-place showings, the most agonizing finish in the worlds or Olympics, with two fourths by Evan Dunfee of Richmond in the 20K and 35K race walks and by the Canadian women’s 4x400 relay team.
“Fourth place is not fun. I don’t think I’ll be able to watch the race for a few weeks, at least,” Canadian women’s 4x400 runner Aiyanna Stiverne said in a statement.
“We have such a deep pool. It seems to get deeper and deeper every year. We have girls moving in from NCAA coming in, so it’s going to be a bit spicy to get on the team, but we will have a solid team going into Paris.”
Other Canadian finalists included Mo Ahmed sixth in the 10,000 metres and seventh in the 5,000 metres, De Grasse sixth in the 200 metres and Jean-Simon Desgagnés eighth in the steeplechase.
Adam Keenan of Victoria was 11th in the hammer, which would get him into the 12-man Olympic final next summer in Stade de France.
