LANGLEY, BC, — Aaron Brown smiled and flashed 10 fingers for the camera on Sunday, marking the now veteran runner’s number of Canadian titles. But winning means more these days.
LANGLEY, BC, — Aaron Brown smiled and flashed 10 fingers for the camera on Sunday, marking the now veteran runner’s number of Canadian titles.
But winning means more these days. And it’s because this weekend was sitting in the front row at McLeod Athletic Park—his son Kingsley wore a little T-shirt that read: “Team Brown.”
Brown, a 30-year-old from Toronto, won the 200 meters at the Canadian Track and Field Championships on Sunday in a season-best 20.03, less than 24 hours later to win the 100.
“Others, sometimes it’s easier to take them because you’re always focused on the big championships. You want that glory. But wow. Ten times. That’s a lot. In Canada we have some great people in the sprint, Brown said.
Burnaby’s Jerome Blake, BC, Brown’s teammate on the 4×100 relay who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, took 200 silver in 20.32. Missing in the field was Olympic 200 champion Andre de Grasse, who announced earlier in the week that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The wind was blowing at a speed of 1.8 meters per second within the legal limit. Natasha McDonald of Mississauga, Ont. wasn’t so lucky. She won the women’s 200 in 22.67 under the World Championships qualifying standard. But the wind was invalid 2.1.
Brown, who won double gold for his fourth Canadian Championships, said having his 17-month-old son with him this weekend made for some special moments. Brown held Kingsley in his arms on the medal podium. The presenter also presented a medal to Kingsley.
“These are the defining moments not only in the track but also as a father to the legacy,” Brown said. “They also hit differently. It’s always special when you can include family in your work.
He laughed, “One day he’ll look back and see what I did. If he wants to be a runner one day I’ll tell him he has 10 championships for his father to hold.”
Brown will compete in his fifth World Championships in Eugene, Ore., making him one of Canada’s most enduring track athletes. He’s not sure when he’ll retire, but says he’s begun to think about what the end of his career might be like. He hopes Kingsley, named after Brown’s grandfather, will remember these moments.
“At some point, my obsession is going to turn into one to be more present with her because it takes a lot of sacrifice, a lot of travel. Many times I’m not really there. To be kind to my wife.” Has to take the reins because I need to get proper sleep, I really can’t mess with him when he’s acting like a fool all night long.
“But until then, my wife … believes in my dreams. And I will continue to do so until the time comes.”
Change between races was minimal for sprinters. Finalists played two out of 100 sessions on Saturday. After a massage and a doping test, Brown didn’t leave the stadium until nearly midnight. He ordered Denny’s dinner in his hotel room, and was back on track for season two of 200 on Sunday morning.
Alisha Newman was also feeling the schedule crunch. She covered a distance of 4.40 meters to win the women’s pole vault, breaking her knee en route to place eighth in the women’s 100 meters hurdles.
But after a serious injury last spring that sidelined her for months, the fact that she competed – and performed well – was a victory in itself.
“Just to be like ‘Newman is back on track’ is really exciting to me because it’s been a while for me, and when you go through an injury like this, it’s really hard to know where you end up. Going to be after,” she said.
The 27-year-old London-based woman, who won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, suffered an injury last April when she slipped and fell into a hotel tub. His goal was to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Instead, she missed all three of her jump attempts.
Sunday’s victory was not without its challenges. Her coach Doug Wood was not there after testing positive for COVID-19 two days earlier.
“It’s the first time since my injury that I didn’t have a coach, so it was really exciting for me to run there and like everything, put my doubts and my fears behind, and then claim my Canadian championship, ” He said.
“That’s what we want to take into the world, I want to take that (feel) that I already deserve to be out there. I have to really reveal it.”
In a scorching 31°C heat, and with gusting winds, which nearly gave up Newman for safety reasons before attempting 4.40, she missed her first two attempts at the height of the victory. But Wood wrote to his agents to send a message: he just has to win.
“I calmed down as soon as he said that and I ran downstairs and I took off. He’s my centerpiece. He’s almost like that temple to me,” said Newman, who recently spoke at a meeting in London with the world- Qualifying was cleared 4.70. ,
Liz Gladl of Vancouver won her 11th javelin title with a throw of 60.88m, while Christabel Netty of Surrey, BC, won the women’s long jump with a jump of 6.63.
In other highlights on Sunday, Noel Montcalm of Windsor, Ont. won the women’s 400m hurdles in 56.54, while Lucia Stafford of Toronto won the women’s 1,500 in 4:17.22.
The last chance for Canadian championship athletes to achieve standards or score significant ranking points to secure a spot on the team for the World Track and Field Championships was July 15–24 in Eugene, Ore.
The Canadian squad will be announced on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 26, 2022.
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