Athletics (Day 6): First track & field gold in 26 years
Photo credit: François Laplante, Freestyle Photography)
BELGRADE, Serbia - It was 26 years in the making, and the Canadian track and field team put an exclamation mark on an outstanding Summer Universiade with a gold-medal performance in the women's 4 x 400-metre relay Sunday in Canada's last event of the FISU Games.
Summer Universiade website: www.universiade-belgrade2009.org Team Canada website: www.universitysport.ca/belgrade
The quartet of Carline Muir of Edmonton, Calgary's Amonn Nelson, Kimberly Hyacinthe of Terrebonne, Que., and Esther Akinsule of Kanata, Ont., etched their names in history with a first-place finish in the relay in 3:33.09. It was Canada's first Universiade gold medal in athletics since David Steen and Guillaume Leblanc reached the top of the podium in the decathlon and 20 km walk, respectively, on home soil in Edmonton back in 1983.
"That is an amazing accomplishment for us," said Akinsule, who ran the anchor leg, when advised of the feat after the race. "It's been a long time coming, and we've been trying to launch this relay program for a while. It was great to come here and have the first gold medal in so long, and now we get to go to the world championships and see what we can do there."
"We knew the top two would be Carline and Esther, but this was the first time those four had raced together," said Les Gramantik, the Canadian head coach in Belgrade. "The other two really came in and contributed well. None of them are really specialists in the 400, but they all have aspirations and I think this team will go on and compete for us at the world championships in five weeks."
Muir, the leadoff runner, and Akinsule climbed the podium for the second time at the meet after winning bronze and silver, respectively, in the individual 400-metre event on Thursday.
The University of Alberta's Muir opened up a sizeable lead after the opening leg, handing off to Nelson, a University of Calgary athlete. Nelson gave up the advantage early but stayed within striking distance of front-running Senegal before moving aside for Hyacinthe. The Vanier College student ran on the heels of Fatou Diabaye of Senegal for 300 metres before making a surge down the stretch to re-take the lead for Canada, and Carleton University's Akinsule ran in front for her entire leg to take gold by nearly a second and a half over second-place Russia.
The gold medal brings Canada's athletics total in Belgrade to eight, beating out swimming's seven, and represents the second-highest medal count in track and field in Canadian Universiade history behind the 13 won at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
"It has been a very important meet for us in preparation for London in 2012," said Gramantik. "We selected a team that was competitive and we made it difficult to make the team, and I think that the success reflects that."
All 15 of Canada's medals at the 2009 Games came from either the pool or the track.
The lone other Canadian in a final on the last day of competition was Julia Howard of St. John's, Nfld., in the women's 1,500 metres. The entire 12-woman field ran in a tight pack for the first three lapses of the race before the leaders began to pull away, with Serbia's Marina Muncan taking the gold medal to the delight of the fans at Red Star Stadium. Howard finished fifth in 4:17.85, less than a second off the podium.
The Canadian men's 4 x 100-metre relay team had qualified for the final but withdrew its entry after two of the runners sustained minor injuries in Saturday's 200-metre final.
CANADIAN ATHLETICS RESULTS - July 12
Final men's 4x100m relay 1. Russia, 39.21 2. Poland, 39.33 3. South Africa, 39.52 DNS Canada
Final women's 1,500m 1. Marina Muncan, Serbia, 4:15.53 2. Kaila Mcknight, Australia, 4:16.10 3. Elena Garcia Grimau, Spain, 4:17.02 5. Julia Howard, St. John's, N.L., 4:17.85
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