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Derek Drouin, the defending world high jump champion and huge Canadian Olympic hope, drops by Centennial Stadium today en route to Rio.
The annual Victoria International Classic has certainly put the 鈥渇ield鈥� into track and field the past few years by featuring the likes of Olympic-medallist shot-putter Dylan Armstrong.
Expect eyes to be trained on the high jump pit today as Drouin unleashes that willowy six-foot-five frame that earned him gold at the 2015 worlds in Beijing, 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games after picking off bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.
The 28th Victoria International Track and Field Classic today, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Centennial Stadium, is packed full of Rio Olympic hopefuls. None is bigger than Drouin. But he lets all that slide off his shoulders and lanky arms.
鈥淎ny pressure is self-inflicted,鈥� said the 26-year-old native of Sarnia, Ont.
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e done in the past doesn鈥檛 mean a whole lot to me. This year is this year and I want to be the best on the day it really matters, in Rio.鈥�
Today also continues a great rivalry between Drouin and Mike Mason from Nanoose Bay, the latter who was on the podium with Drouin at Toronto and Glasgow and in the final with him at London. Two-time Olympian Mason will have home advantage at Centennial Stadium, where the Parksville-Ballenas graduate dominated the Island high school championship meet from 2002 to 2004 with records that still stand.
鈥淢ike and I get along incredibly well and are so comfortable and supportive around each others,鈥� Drouin said.
鈥淗e is the reason I came out to sa国际传媒 for the Harry Jerome [held Friday in Burnaby] and Victoria meets.鈥� For Olympians Sultana Frizell and Heather Steacy, who do their hammer training in Victoria, it鈥檚 an adopted home-soil meet en route to Rio, as it is for Victoria-based runner and 2012 London Olympian Hilary Stellingwerff.
Also competing today will be Victoria meet regular and 2015 world championship women鈥檚 800-metre silver-medallist Melissa Bishop of Eganville, Ont., who has recorded outstanding times previously on the Centennial Stadium track.
sa国际传媒 is coming off an incredible performance in the 2015 IAAF world championships at the Bird鈥檚 Nest in Beijing, which may be the most under-appreciated story of the past year in Canadian sport.
It included gold medals by Drouin in the high jump and Shawnacy Barber in the pole vault, silvers from Bishop in the 800, Brianne Theisen-Eaton in the heptathlon and Damian Warner in the decathlon, and bronze medals from Benjamin Thorne in the 20K race walk and Andre De Grasse in the 100 metres and also with the 4x100 relay team.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to watch this Canadian team and hopefully interest in our sport grow across the country,鈥� Drouin said.
鈥淚 love the sport and would like to pass that along to other Canadians.鈥�
Helping to lead the international charge today at Centennial Stadium will be American great and three-time Olympic gold-medallist 400-metre runner Jeremy Wariner.
