For Canadian track and field athletes, the road to Rio 2016 passed through Edmonton last weekend

Canada’s top track athletes faced foreboding skies, thousands of metres of track, and physical collapse as they battled for a chance to represent their country this summer in Rio. Last Sunday saw the completion of the Canadian Track and Field Championships and Selection Trials for the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. For four days, Canada’s best and brightest track and field athletes took to Foote Field in an effort to secure national titles and, hopefully, a ticket to Rio de Janeiro, where they would have the opportunity to compete against the rest of the world during the upcoming Olympic Games.

“What could be more pure and motivating than wanting to be the world’s fastest, highest, or strongest?” said Jerry Bouma, chair of the local organizing committee, of the Games and its 1896 motto “citius, altius, fortius,” or faster, higher, stronger.

And indeed, the competition between the Olympic hopefuls to determine who exactly was the fastest, highest, and strongest was fierce. From nail-biting events like women’s pole vaulting, which had four qualifiers but only three available spots for Rio competitors, to the countless races run by resilient sprinters in the chilly morning air with the threat of imminent heavy rainfall, the trials certainly proved to be anything but predictable. If the contorted faces and exhausted bodies were any indication, every single athlete gave the Championships their all.

By the end of the weekend, 65 athletes had been selected by the Canadian Olympic Committee and Athletics Canada to move on to Rio de Janeiro. The complete group of athletes chosen to represent the track and field division of Team Canada in the Summer Olympic Games was formally announced at City Hall on Monday morning following the conclusion of the Championships. Included on the final roster are 2015 World Champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber, 2015 World Champion high jumper and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Derek Drouin, along with heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton, sprinter Andre de Grasse, race walker Benjamin Thorne, and decathlete Damian Warner, all of whom won medals at the 2015 IAAF World Championships. Three Edmontonians also made the cut: Kendra Clarke and Carline Muir, participating in the 400 metre and 4×400 metre relay races, and Angela Whyte, competing in the 100 metre hurdles, will be fighting for spots on the podium in Rio.

The star-studded Athletics team is led by Peter Eriksson, Head Coach and Chief Technical Officer, and is part of the estimated 315 total Team Canada athletes who will represent our country in the different sporting divisions at the Olympic Games. Canada is also expected to send an estimated 155 athletes to the Paralympics, competing in 19 sports.

“This is the strongest and most well-rounded team I have ever been a part of,” said Rio selectee Brianne Theisen-Eaton of her fellow competitors. “The team counts multiple world medallists and a talented roster who will challenge for the podium on the track and in the field. My teammates and I are ready to compete for Canada in Rio.”

The Summer Olympic Games will be held from August 5 to August 21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Paralympic Games will be held in the same city from September 7 to September 18.