(Montreal) Quebecers Simone Plourde and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot both won their qualifying heat for the 1500 metres final at the Canadian Track and Field Trials.
Plourde, which occupies 40e world ranking in the qualifying ranking of the discipline for the Paris Olympic Games, clocked a time of four minutes, 15.66 seconds (4:15.66), the second best time in the qualifications, behind Lucia Stafford (4:13.89), already assured of participating in the Olympic Games.
The 23-year-old Montrealer must wait for the results of the other national championships contested this weekend before knowing if she will be one of the 45 runners to start in the French capital next August.
The Olympic standard is 4:02.50. Plourde achieved his best result, 4:05.92, last May in Los Angeles.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Simone Plourde during the 1500m semi-final
Two other Quebecers qualified for the final, namely Florence Caron (4: 16.15) and Jessy Lacourse (4: 17.96).
Philibert-Thiboutot is more into race management and looking for good sensations on the track, he who has already obtained the standard and whose Olympic qualification should only be a formality.
The 33-year-old from Quebec City posted the fastest qualifying time of 3:41.45, far from his best time this season of 3:34.50 and his personal best of 3:32.94, achieved last year.
Quebecers Matthew Beaudet (3: 48.88), Kevin Robertson (3: 44.07) and Émile Toupin (3: 43.03) will accompany him in the final.
Morales-Williams and Arop on track
Later, the 400m and 800m finals will be contested.
Young sensation Christopher Morales-Williams, the world’s fastest man over 400 metres this season, will be in the final. He ran the qualifications in 45.77 seconds.
The Vaughan, Ont., sprinter has held the Canadian record of 44.05 since last May. It’s the fastest 400m he’s run this season. The University of Georgia student has won every race he’s run at the distance in 2024.
Reigning national champion, he won the American university championship and currently ranks first in the world, having won the silver medal in 2023 at the Junior Pan American Championships.
In the 800m, reigning world champion Marco Arop will be in the running. On Friday, he set the competition record by also achieving an Olympic standard of 1:43.53.
Two Quebecers qualified for the final which will be played on Saturday, Zakari Mama-Yari (1: 48.19) and Yassine Aber (1: 49.17).