A weekend of excellent Canadian performances was headlined by Toronto’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford and Nelson B.C.’s Matthew (Matti) Erickson, who achieved world-championship-qualifying marks within the 1,500m and 800m, respectively.
At Friday’s Morton Video games in Dublin, DeBues-Stafford, a two-time Olympian, took one other enormous step ahead in her comeback season, clocking 4:01.19 to shave 0.81 seconds off her earlier season’s greatest . Erickson’s breakthrough run got here the next day on the Sound Working Sundown Tour held at Jack Kemp Stadium in Los Angeles, the place he took third in an enormous private better of 1:44.49.
DeBues-Stafford took second to Lithuania’s Gabija Galvydytė, who clocked 4:00.71. The Canadian’s efficiency marks her second world customary of the 2025; final month, she additionally dipped beneath the 5,000m customary of 14:50, clocking 14:47.83. After falling in need of qualifying for Paris 2024 in each occasions, the 29-year-old has made it clear: she’s removed from completed.
Erickson’s 1:44.49 beats the qualifying mark of 1:44.50 by one hundredth of a second and smashes his earlier private better of 1:45.74 by greater than a full second. The efficiency strikes Erickson from thirteenth to fourth on the all-time Canadian checklist over the gap.
Erickson’s run follows a standout season with the Oregon Geese. Final fall, he grew to become the primary Canadian observe athlete to signal a Identify, Picture and Likeness (NIL) take care of Nike, earlier than claiming the NCAA indoor 800m title and narrowly lacking the sweep with a runner-up end at NCAA open air.
Saturday’s Sound Working 800m got here right down to the wire, with Jamaica’s Navasky Anderson taking the win in 1:44.40–a brand new nationwide report–and Abe Alvarado of the U.S. edging Erickson for second in 1:44.47.
Plourde surges to 1,500m greatest
Montreal’s Simone Plourde additionally continued her upward trajectory within the ladies’s 1,500m in L.A., taking third in a brand new private better of 4:02.91–practically a full second sooner than her 4:03.83 private greatest set eventually month’s Portland Observe Pageant.
People Josette Andrews and Riley Chamberlain claimed first and second in 4:00.10 and 4:02.03, respectively. Toronto’s Lucia Stafford narrowly missed the rostrum, taking fourth in 4:04.95.
Plourde now ranks because the second-fastest Canadian girl over 1,500m this 12 months, sitting behind solely Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, who ran 4:01.19 at Friday’s Morton Video games in Dublin. Kate Present of Cobourg, Ont., ranks third together with her current 4:03.06 breakthrough, with Stafford in fourth together with her season’s better of 4:03.54.
Fetherstonhaugh takes steeplechase win
Within the ladies’s 3,000m steeplechase, Grace Fetherstonhaugh of New Westminster, B.C., ran away from the sphere to win in a private better of 9:28.42–her first time breaking the 9:30 barrier and a close to six-second margin of victory.
Like DeBues-Stafford, Erickson and Plourde, Fetherstonhaugh has been on a tear this season. Additionally eventually month’s Portland Observe Pageant, the 24-year-old posted back-to-back private bests within the steeplechase and the 1,500m with occasions of 9:31.08 and 4:06.76, respectively.
See right here for full outcomes from the Sound Working Sundown Tour.
Click on right here for full outcomes from the Morton Video games.
