De Grasse, Warner head 51-member Canadian world track and field team
Women include pole vaulter Alysha Newman, 1,500m runner Gabriela DeBues-Stafford
Triple Olympic sprint medallist Andre De Grasse and decathlete Damian Warner headline a 51-member Canadian team for the world track and field championships, which begin Sept. 27, Athletics Canada announced.
Warner was the Olympic bronze medallist and has the year's leading score of 8,711 points. He is expected to be French world record holder Kevin Mayer's biggest challenger as the Sept. 27-Oct. 6 championships in Doha, Qatar.
Two notable absences this season are high jumper Derek Drouin and 800 world silver medallist Melissa Bishop, who are both injured.
WATCH | Head coach Glenroy Gilbert has high hopes for Canada
The Canadian squad is comprised of 25 men and 26 women, with 26 returnees from the 2017 team that finished 14th on the IAAF Placing Table with 30 points, produced two Canadian records (Mo Ahmed and Geneviève Lalonde), three personal bests, and 10 season-best performances.
"Having some veterans, along with rookies, is part of the tapestry of our sport; it bodes well. When you look back at 2017, the performance as a whole was lacking for various reasons," said head coach Glenroy Gilbert. "We are looking for a better result this year, but the challenges will be there."
Canadians ranked top 10 in world
- Damian Warner – Men's decathlon (1st)
- Aaron Brown – Men's 200m (4th)
- Brandon McBride – Men's 800 (4th)
- Gabriela DeBues-Stafford – Women's 1,500 (4th)
- Alysha Newman – Women's pole vault (3rd)
- Andre De Grasse – Men's 100 (9th), 200 (3rd)
- Mo Ahmed – Men's 10,000 (6th)
- Pierce LePage – Men's decathlon (6th)
- Crystal Emmanuel – Women's 100 (10th), 200 (7th)
- Mike Mason – Men's high jump (8th)
- Brittany Crew – Women's shot put (6th)
Gilbert believes several Canadians could reach the podium or threaten for a medal.
"Aaron Brown has shown he's in good form in the 100 and 200 metres, as is Andre De Grasse," he pointed out. "Alysha Newman is right up there, especially after her [Canadian record clearance of 4.82 metres] at the Diamond League meet in Paris [on Aug. 24), as is Brittany Crew [in shot put] and [runner] Gabriela DeBues-Stafford.
WATCH | DeBues-Stafford runs sub-4 minute 1,500:
"[Distance runner] Mohammed Ahmed is fit and has dropped some big performances, while the decathlon duo of Damian Warner and Pierce LePage is going to be exceptional [along with] our mixed 4x400-metre relay team that medalled at the IAAF World Relays [in May] and the 4x400-metre women."
Less than a year from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the world championships are also a great measuring stick, Gilbert said.
Unique challenge with heat
"I think it's very important [to perform well in Doha], to set the tone for Tokyo next year, so the … world championships [going] into an Olympic Games is always a critical one, it's always a telling one in terms of what you can expect to see in Tokyo," Gilbert told The Canadian Press from Canada's pre-worlds camp in Barcelona.
These world championships present some unique challenges due to soaring temperatures in the Persian Gulf city. To avoid the sizzling heat of the summer when the temperatures climb into the high 40s C.
"We did a walkthrough of the stadium [last year], you go from 50 degrees [outside] to 24 degrees in the stadium," Gilbert said. "So it's quite drastic but I think obviously it should help the athletes deliver the performance on demand that we're expecting."
Team Canada
MEN
- Mo Ahmed: 5,000m/10,000
- Marco Arop: 800
- Mathieu Bilodeau: 50km race walk
- Jerome Blake: 4x100 relay
- Bismark Boateng: 4x100
- Aaron Brown: 100/200/4x100
- Austin Cole: mixed 4x400
- Berhanu Degefa: Marathon
- Andre De Grasse: 100/200/4x100
- Evan Dunfee: 20km/50km race walk
- John Gay: 3,000 steeplechase
- Matt Hughes: 3,000 steeplechase
- Justyn Knight: 5,000
- Pierce LePage: Decathlon
- Django Lovett: High jump
- John Mason: Marathon
- Mike Mason: High jump
- Brandon McBride: 800
- Tim Nedow: Shot put
- Philip Osei: 400/mixed 4x400
- Brendon Rodney: 200/4x100
- Ryan Smeeton: 3,000 steeplechase
- Gavin Smellie: 4x100
- Graeme Thompson: Mixed 4x400
- Damian Warner: Decathlon
WOMEN
- Kelsie Ahbe: Pole vault
- Maria Bernard: 3,000m steeplechase
- Alicia Brown: 4x400/mixed 4x400
- Lindsey Butterworth: 800
- Rachel Cliff: 5,000
- Brittany Crew: Shot put
- Gabriela DeBues-Stafford: 1,500
- Crystal Emmanuel: 100/200
- Phylicia George: 100 hurdles
- Liz Gleadle: Javelin
- Sasha Gollish: Marathon
- Geneviève Lalonde: 3,000 steeplechase
- Sarah Mitton: Shot put
- Carline Muir: 4x400/mixed 4x400
- Melanie Myrand: Marathon
- Alysha Newman: Pole vault
- Madeline Price: 400/4x400/mixed 4x400
- Rachel Seaman: 20km race walk
- Andrea Seccafien: 5,000
- Maya Stephens: 4x400/mixed 4x400
- Aiyanna Stiverne: 400/4x400/mixed 4x400
- Katherine-Jessica Surin: 4x400/mixed 4x400
- Lyndsay Tessier: Marathon
- Sage Watson: 400 hurdles/4x400/mixed 4x400
- Natasha Wodak: 10,000
- Regan Yee: 3,000 steeplechase
CBC Sports has exclusive live coverage of the 2019 World Track & Field Championships from Sept. 27-Oct. 6. View the stream and broadcast schedule here. To add the complete event schedule to your calendar, click here.
With files from CBC Sports and The Canadian Press