Jean-Simon Desgagnés runs PB, sets Quebec record and nears world, Olympic standards
24-year-old 4th in 3,000m steeplechase at Continental Tour Gold event in Hungary
Jean-Simon Desgagnés is inching closer to the automatic qualifying standards for the World Athletics Championships next month and Paris Summer Olympics in 2024.
The Canadian runner set a personal best and Quebec record Tuesday, finishing the men's 3,000-metre steeplechase in eight minutes 17.40 seconds at the Gyulai Istvén Memorial track and field meet in Székesfehérvár, Hungary.
Alex Genest achieved the previous Quebec mark of 8:19.33 nearly 12 years to the day on July 22, 2011 in Barcelona.
Record holder Matt Hughes (8:11.64), Graeme Fell (8:12.58) and John Gay (8:16.99) are the only Canadian men to run the 3,000 steeple faster than Desgagnés, a native of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que.
The 24-year-old ran a previous best of 8:20.68 in his season-opening steeple race on May 6 at the Sound Running Track Festival in Walnut, Calif.
It's his third PB of the season after a 13:37.67 clocking in the 5,000 on March 31 in Palo Alto, Calif., three months before he covered the 1,500 in 3:38.50 at Montreal's Claude Robillard Sports Complex.
Desgagnés, who ranked 31st in the world in the steeplecase on Tuesday, has through July 31 to reach the 8:15 world and Olympic standards.
Mohamed Tindouft of Morocco topped the 15-man field Tuesday in a winning time of 8:15.73, followed by Ethiopia's Samuel Firewu (8:16.40) and Uganda's Leonard Chemutai (8:17.14). Desgagnés was the only Canadian competing at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet, also known as the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix.
Eyeing 2nd trip to world championships
Two months ago, he went 8:23.32 to win the 3,000 steeplechase for a third consecutive year at Track Night on Randall's Island Park in New York City.
Last July, Desgagnés made his worlds debut in Eugene, Ore., and represented Canada at the fourth NACAC Championships a month later, earning a bronze medal in Freeport, Bahamas.
The five-foot-nine, 135-pound athlete placed 12th in his preliminary heat and 36th overall at worlds, having qualified based on his 39th place standing in the world rankings.
"It's just exceptional to be there and compete against the top 40 in the world. It is a success in itself," Desgagnés, the 2017 Pan Am U20 champion, told Radio-Canada after the competition.
"Next year I want to arrive with a different role and move up the rankings."
Twice during his just-completed university career at Laval in Montreal, the 2017 U Sports male rookie of the year was named one of the eight best student-athletes for Canada.
An aspiring doctor and researcher, Desgagnés was a full-time student this year completing a master's degree in immunology and renal transplantation.
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