Canada's relay team aiming high for Rio Olympics

Aaron Brown's 9.96 seconds in the 100-metre dash at Saturday's Star Athletics Pro Meet in Florida put him in elite company. The 24-year-old sprinter is only the fourth Canadian to ever go sub-10, joining teammate Andre De Grasse, Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin in the club.

It also bodes well for Canada's 4x100 Olympic relay team. Canada currently holds the fastest relay time in the world after Brown, De Grasse, Akeem Haynes and Brendon Rodney ran 38.11 in Gainesville, Fla. in March.

With two sub-10 sprinters, as well as strong 200 runners in the mix, Brown is confident for Rio.

"I see us competing with the Jamaicas and the U.S.A.s of the world [for gold]," Brown told CBCSports.ca. "I think we can compete for medals."

Selecting the squad

The final team will be decided after the national championships in Edmonton on July 7-10.

"​Clearly Aaron, where he is in terms of his performance so far has been good and so it's just a matter of coming to nationals and finishing in the top two, top three to punch his ticket," Canadian relay coach Glenroy Gilbert told CBC Sports.

Gilbert plans to select six runners for the team heading to Rio, with the running order and alternates to be determined later.

The final Pan Am roster in Toronto featured Gavin Smellie in the leadoff position, followed by De Grasse, Rodney and Brown. However, the lineup changed for the 2015 world championships with Brown leading off, De Grasse and Rodney staying in their respective slots and Justyn Warner anchoring.

"It's going to come down to, of course, who's attended our relay camps and relay preparation in the lead-up to Rio and also where they are by way of fitness, who's running well, who's running not so well," Gilbert said. 

"There's a lot of different variables that go into selecting a team."

Who runs where?

Another important consideration is where each sprinter will run in the relay. At the race in March, Haynes led off followed by Brown, Rodney and De Grasse. However, Brown also has experience at leadoff (Pan Ams) and anchor (world championships).

"You're trying to pair them up based on strengths in terms of the way the track is designed," said Gilbert, who won gold for Canada in the 4x100 relay at the 1996 Olympics. "Your leadoff guy would have to be a pretty good starter, a guy that can run a curve pretty strong. Your second-leg guy would be good on a fly."

"And then of course, a solid curve runner also with a 200 background to run third…to make a pass on your anchor man who's a guy that can accelerate really fast and the ability to also handle the stress and the pressure of the anchor position."

Brown said he prefers running in the straightaway legs of the relay, either second or fourth. Gilbert, meanwhile, just hopes for a healthy complement of sprinters.

"Our guys have to stay healthy, have to get through their individual events and then we have to see what we have, who we have left in order to run," said Gilbert. "And then from there, we build our team to put on the track on the last two days of the competition."

"Our goal is to get into the final and once we're there, the hope is to go after a medal, one of the three spots," Gilbert said.