Canadian Operating and Below Armour have teamed up for the 2024 Canadian U Sports activities indoor monitor and discipline season to focus on a number of the prime homegrown abilities throughout the nation. Every week, main as much as the 2024 U Sports activities Indoor Observe and Discipline Championships in Winnipeg subsequent month, Canadian Operating will choose one female and male monitor and discipline athlete because the Below Armour Athlete of the Week.
The award will go to a female and male U Sports activities monitor and discipline athlete who achieved a standout efficiency, broke a faculty file or crushed a private finest. These athletes might be featured on Canadian Operating and awarded an Below Armour prize pack that includes the brand new UA Infinite Elite coaching shoe. This week we spotlight one other two sensational athletes who shattered college information: Aaron Thompson of the College of Western Ontario and distance runner Chloe Turner of the College of Calgary, for his or her performances between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11.
Feminine Athlete of the Week: Chloe Turner–ladies’s 3,000m
Chloe Turner ran to a 19-second private finest within the ladies’s 3,000m final Saturday on the Husky Basic in Seattle. Turner’s time of 9:15.37 is the highest mark in U Sports activities this yr over 3,000m by 10 seconds, and places her 20 seconds underneath the U Sports activities Championship customary. What’s much more exceptional is that she is just in her first yr of competing on the U Sports activities stage and is already tearing up the monitor.
“I used to be actually proud of the race; the previous couple of years, I’ve been specializing in the 5,000m and the 1,500m, and haven’t gotten an excellent probability to see what I may accomplish within the 3,000m,” says Turner. “This was an superior alternative to see what I may do.”
At 18, Turner is among the nation’s finest up-and-coming younger athletes. Final yr, she received U20 Pan-Am gold within the 5,000m and a person Canadian Cross Nation title within the ladies’s U20 race, which earned her a chance to signify Canada on the World XC Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, this March.
With quick outcomes come huge objectives, and Turner isn’t shying away from the highlight. “I feel I’m able to doing higher, and I look ahead to getting the prospect to race some ladies in Canada within the subsequent few weeks on the CanWest convention championships,” says Turner. “I’m additionally tremendous excited to signify Canada on the World Cross Nation Championships in Serbia later this spring!”
Turner is coached by former Canadian Olympian within the ladies’s 5,000m, Jessica O’Connell, on the College of Calgary.
Male Athlete of the Week: Aaron Thompson–males’s 60m
Final weekend on the College of Windsor Workforce Problem in Windsor, Ont., Aaron Thompson ran a brand new private better of 6.72 seconds within the males’s 60m. His electrifying time is the quickest 60m time in U Sports activities this yr and ranks sixth within the self-discipline amongst Canadian sprinters in 2024. Accolades for his breakout efficiency didn’t cease there; he additionally set a brand new Western Mustangs college file. Later, within the 300m occasion, Thompson recorded his second-fastest time of the season (34.15), which earned him the highest spot on the Windsor Workforce Problem.
“I used to be proud of the race and honoured to get the varsity file,” says Thompson on his efficiency. “I simply ran a race that I used to be comfy with; I didn’t even realize it was an excellent time till I obtained swarmed by my teammates.”
That is his first season competing for the College of Western Ontario after operating for the College of Waterloo throughout his undergrad program. “I’m new to Western and tremendous fortunate to be surrounded by such good coaches and teammates who push me to be the most effective athlete I may be.”
Heading into the convention championships, Thompson might be ranked #1 within the OUA convention in each the 60m and 300m. “I’d like to have a stable efficiency at U Sports activities,” says Thompson. “There’s an opportunity I get on the rostrum in 4 occasions, in order that’s an excellent aim for me to work in the direction of even when it’s a daring one.”
Thompson reveals that he obtained a late begin to sprinting and is at present targeted on studying extra in regards to the sport and having fun with the method. “I’d like to maintain competing for so long as I could make it work,” he says. “This summer time I’ll be competing outside and would love to come back prime 10 within the 400m on the Olympic Trials, however we’ll see!”
Dawson Mann and Amy Stieh named Below Armour U Sports activities Athletes of the Week
If you want to appoint a Canadian U Sports activities athlete for Below Armour Athlete of the Week, ship @canadianrunning a message on Instagram or electronic mail marley@runningmagazine.ca.
