Barber latest Canadian to struggle at track worlds

LONDON — On a magical night two years ago in Beijing, Shawn Barber could do nothing wrong. A college kid carrying zero expectations, he soared freely over bar after bar until gold was in his grasp.

His pole vault victory at the 2015 world track and field championships was the country’s first in 12 years, and a punctuation mark on a spectacular eight-medal performance for Canada.

Two years later, Barber will leave London emptyhanded, finishing eighth on Tuesday night.

And at the halfway point of the world championships, a Canadian team that has suffered a string of bad luck remains without a medal.

“We’ve struggled a bit as a team, had some losses here and there. But I’m confident that our team is going to come back stronger,” Barber said hopefully.

Matt Hughes’ sixth-place Tuesday in the 3,000-metre steeplechase is Canada’s top finish. Brandon McBride was eighth in the men’s 800 metres, while Liz Gleadle was 12th in javelin.

Barber cleared 5.65 metres by a hair on his third attempt. The bar wobbled badly but managed to stay. He missed on all three attempts at 5.75 — what would have been his season’s best — to finish eighth. American Sam Kendricks took the gold with 5.95.

“I think it’s just between the ears for me,” said the 23-year-old from Toronto. “The weather was good, the atmosphere was good, I just couldn’t line everything up the way I needed to.”

Barber had a disastrous competition at last summer’s Rio Olympics as he struggled in heavy wind and rain en route to a 10th-place finish.