Anieu Chan of Windsor, Ont., might be a name you’ll hear much more of in Canadian track and field in the coming years. The 15-year-old middle-distance track star smashed two U16 provincial records at the SWOSSA (South Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association) championship on May 23 in Chatham, Ont.
Chan won the 400 metres in 56.86 seconds, breaking the previous record of 57.59 set in 1998 (before Chan was born). Her second record came in the 800 metres, where her time of 2:07.34 broke the Ontario provincial mark of 2:08.04 set by Kailee Sawyer of Laurel Creek Track & Field Club in 2012 (pending ratification). She won the 800m Novice girls’ race at SWOSSA by a margin of 23 seconds.Â
With Chan winning SWOSSA, she automatically qualifies for the 2024 Ontario high school track and field championships (OFSAA) at Western Alumni Stadium in London, Ont., from June 6-8, where she will be a favourite to win the 400m and 800m events.
Her time would have won the Grade 9 boys 800m race and qualified her for OFSAA in both the novice boys 400m and 800m events.
Last fall, Chan won an OFSAA XC team title with Vincent Massey Secondary School. She ran up two divisions, competing against Grade 11 and Grade 12 girls two to three years older. She still placed 24th overall, helping her team win team gold. She never intended to compete against the older age group, but was promoted to the senior girls’ team due to a lack of runners to form a novice girls’ team at Vincent Massey.
To put Chan’s time in perspective, she is running the same times at 15 as the reigning Olympic 800m champion, Athing Mu, when she was the same age (2:07.18). The future of Canadian middle distance looks bright, as Chan could be an athlete to watch at the L.A. Olympics in 2028.
