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Preview: 10 Athletes To Watch At The Canadian Track And Field Championships 2026Published by
World Champion Hammer Throwers Featured At Canadian Championships By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor Photos by Sean Burges/Mundo Sports Images The Canadian Track and Field Championships presented by Bell will combine the senior championships with the U20 championships and the Para championships. beginning Wedesday at the Terry Fox Athletic Center in Ottawa. Here are 10 of the top Canadian Athletes To Watch Camryn Rogers - Women's Hammer Rogers won another world championship title last September in Tokyo. Despite a rare defeat last weekend at the USATF LA Grand Prix, she will have a chance to work out the kinks and restart her momentum this week on home turf. The 27-year-old is the greatest female thrower in Canadian history. Her gold in Paris was the first for a Canadian woman in track and field since 1928. Rogers was a standout at her high school in B.C. before dominating the NCAA at Cal-Berkeley. She threw a new national record in her event earlier this spring at the Texas Relays when she let one fly 81.13m. That was the fourth-farthest throw in history and the longest in 10 years. Ethan Katzberg -Men's Hammer The other half of Canada's historic Olympic hammer throw sweep, Katzberg kept pace with Rogers by first winning another world title in Toky last fall. Katzberg will be competing for the first time since his season opener back in April at the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya, where he won with 82.43m. The 24-year-old from Nanaimo, B.C. is coached by former Olympic shot put medalist Dylan Armstrong. Marco Arop - Men's 1,500 Meters One of the world's greatest half-milers, Arop has made the podium at the last four summer global championships. He won a World Championships bronze last fall in Tokyo and before that he was the silver medalist a the Olympics in Paris. Last week he got more strong results in the 800 meters with 1:43.11 on the Diamond League circuit in Stockholm and 1:43.33 in Oslo, but this week in Ottawa he is switching things up and running the 1,500. Arop's family fled the civil war in Sudan in the 1990s and he has found a home in Canada. At Mississippi State, Arop finished second at the NCAA Championships in 2018. Sarah Mitton - Women's Shot Put The two-time World Indoor champion in the shot put finished just out of the medals at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, earning some redemption for a disappointing 2021 Olympics there. Mitton has thrown a bunch this year, incuding a second-place finish at the LA Grand Prix last weekend, where she topped 20 meters with 20.15m. Christopher Morales Williams - Men's 400 Meters Morales Williams won Canada's only gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland, where he won the 400 meters. Since then, he ran a season's best 44.30 at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. But he has not raced since May. Jerome Blake - Men's 100/200 Meters He has been the fastest Canadian this year, albeit with limited results. He has run 9.93 seconds in the 100 meters, in Botswana, and won last year's Canadian Champs in the 200 with 19.95. He was also a key member of the silver medal winning 4x100 relay last September at the World Championships in Tokyo. He won his first Canadian national title last year in the 200 meters. Savannah Sutherland - Women's 400-Meter Hurdles She has endured a difficult spring emotionally due to the life-threatening injuries suffered by her brother in a workplace accident. The NCAA champion and record-breaker for the University of Michigan in the 400-meter hurdles (2025) was also a Bowerman Award finalist last December. Her first hurdles race of the year was at the USATF Lone Star meet on June 6, where she ran 54.63. Audrey Leduc - Women's 100/200 Meters The French-speaking Canadian record holder in the 100 meters, Leduc ran a time of 10.97 seconds in the 100 meters at the USATF Lone Star meet. She broke a 37-year-old Canadian record when she broke it for the first time lin 2024 when she ran 10.96. Leduc was part of two silver medal teams at the World Relays in Botswana: the women's 4x100 relay and the mixed 4x100 relay. Lucia Stafford - Women's 1,500 Meters The younger sister of Gabriela Stafford-DeBues ran a personal best time of 4:00.83 in the 1,500 meters at the Rabat Diamond League on May 31. She won the national titles in the 1,500 meters in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Julia Tunks - Women's Discus She won her first national title at 16 and broke the national record at 18. Now, at 19, she is continuing to build into one of the top young throwers in the world. She threw a new personal best and Canadian record 64.58 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 18. Her father, Jason Tunks, was a three-time Olympian. More news |
