This past weekend the Bell National track & field trials took place in Langley, BC. This being a huge event in which a select few will be heading to the world championships in Eugene, Oregon. There were a number of outstanding performances and notable records which will be highlighted in this short recap article.
Perhaps one of the most notable moments from the event was the performance of Shot putter Sarah Mitton. Sarah, who represented Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, crushed her own Canadian record of 19.58 with a world’s best throw of 20.33 Meters. This throw puts Sarah in great position to challenge for gold heading into next month’s World Championships. Aaron Brown, one of Canada’s top sprinters and a two time Olympian once again put on a show with a run of 10.07 . Brown’s training partner Jerome Blake was able to outshine Brown with a run of 10.00 tying his personal best. In the finals Brown held off Blake to win the 100m final with a time of 10.16 showing that Brown lives and breathes for competition .
Alysha Newman was able to bounce back from a concussion she suffered back in 2021 with a jump of 4.40m, making it her fourth national title in women’s Pole vault. Langley B.C’s own Djanjo Lovett took home the high jump in front of his hometown crowd with a jump of 2.20m. Lovett, who competed in the Tokyo Olympics, has a personal best jump of 2.33m. Elizabeth Gleadle, who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in javelin, continued her streak of winning her 11th consecutive national title with a throw of 60.88 meters. The women’s 800M saw a great race between Maddy Kelly and Lindsey Butterworth. Ultimately it was Kelly who beat Lindsey by 0.03 seconds with a time of 2:00.82. The men’s 800m had featured two of the fastest men in Canadian 800m history, Marco Arop and Brandon Mcbride. In the end it was Arop who was able to take home gold with a time of 1:44:39.
There were some great performances this past weekend and it is always exciting to see top athletes perform at a high level. With that being said the Bell trials was a great sneak peek to what we will see at the World Championships which will take place from July 15 to July 24.
