On Saturday, Canadian women delivered an electrifying start to the indoor track season at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University in Boston, Mass.. A remarkable showing by Canadian talent saw four women breaking nine minutes in the 3,000m, alongside record-breaking runs by Michigan State’s Rachel Forsyth and University of Connecticut’s (UConn) Chloe Thomas.
Forsyth sets the U20 Canadian 3,000m record
After becoming the first Canadian woman to medal in the 1,500m at a world junior championships in August, Forsyth continued to make history during her first NCAA track race. At just 18, Forsyth snuck under the elusive nine-minute barrier in the 3,000m, clocking 8:59.41 to shatter the U20 Canadian record, a mark that had stood for 42 years. (The previous record of 9:07.60 was set by Alison Wiley in 1982.) Forsyth’s time also broke the Michigan State school record.
The phenomenal performance comes shortly after Forsyth became the top North American rookie at November’s NCAA cross-country championships.
Thomas shatters the U23 Canadian indoor 5,000m record
In the fastest indoor 5,000m race in collegiate history, UConn’s Thomas was right in her element. The 21-year-old followed her breakout cross-country season with a staggering 15:17.47 to set the new U23 Canadian indoor 5,000m record. The Dundas, Ont., native’s time beat the former mark of 15:26.01, set by Charlotte Prouse in 2018, by more than eight seconds. Thomas’s time squashed her own 5,000m school record of 15:35.
McCabe, Featherstonhaugh and Current run sub-nine lifetime bests
Olympian and Canadian steeplechase record holder Ceili McCabe of Vancouver shot to a new West Virginia University school record with a near five-second personal best in the 3,000m. The 23-year-old clocked 8:45.97 in a tight race; the Canadian took third and was less than one second behind the winner.
New Westminster, B.C., native and steeplechaser Grace Featherstonhaugh claimed seventh in the event in a four-second personal best of 8:51:00. London, Ont.,’s 1,500m Olympian Kate Current also hurtled to a best-ever time in the 3,000m; her 8:59.57 run marked her first sub-nine minute performance.
Sub-four-minute mile
Other outstanding performances include 21-year-old Max Davies, who ran 3:58 to break his own University of Guelph school record and secure an auto-qualifying spot to the U Sports track and field championships in March in Windsor, Ont. University of Oregon’s Matthew Erickson ran 3:59.27 to become the 77th Canadian man to break the four-minute barrier in the mile. In October, Erickson became the first Canadian athlete to sign a Name, Image and Likeness deal with Nike.
