NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP
Injuries and Norwalk rock top contenders, threaten medal goal
Injuries knocked out two of our biggest stars. Then the Norwalk virus hit the team’s hotel. Things can only get better for pole vaulter Shawn Barber and Canada, can’t they?
LONDON— Two years ago at the world athletics championships, everything that could possibly go right did and Canadian athletes came home with a record eight medals.
This time, so far, it’s been quite the opposite.
The team lost its two biggest stars — sprint sensation Andre De Grasse and Olympic high jump champion Derek Drouin — to injuries before they even had a chance to compete. And now athletes and staff are battling an outbreak of the Norwalk virus linked to their hotel, leading to quarantine measures to keep the sickness from spreading.
That latest bit of bad news came to light Sunday after marathoner Eric Gillis, the Canadian team’s co-captain, ran well with the leaders for the first half but was forced to pull out after 30K to seek medical attention.
“Disappointed I wasn’t able to show my fitness today. Thursday came down with Norwalk, could have used few more days recovery, I’m ok now :)” he explained via social media.
So far, seven Canadian athletes and staff have become ill — plus people on other teams staying at the same hotel — team doctor Paddy McCluskey said.
“I feel like we’re through the worst of it, but with these things you never know,” he said.
Canadian track fans are certainly hoping its smooth sailing from here on. It’s still very early — just three days into the 10-day world championships — and many of Canada’s medal hopes are still to come in events as diverse as the decathlon and race walking.
But there’s clearly cause for concern that the team won’t meet its goal of bettering that historic medal performance in Beijing, given that some of the best bets have already been taken out of contention.
De Grasse, who withdrew Wednesday night after straining his hamstring in a training session here, was looking to pick up medals in the 100, 200 and 4x100-metre relay.
As for Drouin, the reigning world champion has been the athlete who delivers his best when in matters most: high jump bronze at the 2012 London Olympics coming off ankle surgery, and gold at the 2016 Rio Games with stress fractures in his spine. It wasn’t until Saturday night that he admitted defeat in his battle with an Achilles injury.
“With the things I’ve done in the past I really, honestly believed that I was going to be up there,” Drouin said Sunday from the team’s pre-worlds training base in Spain. “It was crushing as I started to realize it wasn’t going to happen.”
He’ll take the rest of the season off to recover for next April’s Commonwealth Games in Australia.
“We’ve got some new young athletes that are ready to step up,” Drouin said about Canada’s remaining prospects here. “They’re really going to be thrown in the deep end with some high expectations, but I definitely think we’ve got a team that can cover some of these missing bodies that we’ve got.” But probably not eight medals worth. “That was always going to be tough to match, regardless of who was there. What we did in Beijing was really spectacular, and for any team it’s tough to get eight medals,” he said.
Historically, Canada has usually picked up one or two medals at the worlds. They took home five in 2013, though, before that 2015 haul.
“It’ll be a little tough to watch because of Beijing, maybe, but I think walking away with fewer medals it can still be a successful games for Canada,” Drouin said.
Indeed, there have already been some incredible Canadian results that didn’t result in a medal.
Mohammed Ahmed smashed the Canadian 10,000-metre record to finish eighth, and he competes again next week in the 5,000, the event he was fourth in at the Rio Olympics.
Crystal Emmanuel, a bright light in women’s sprinting, advanced to the 100 semis with a personal-best time of 11.14 seconds and her best event, the 200, is still to come.
On Sunday, Canada’s other reigning world champion, pole vaulter Shawn Barber, who has struggled for much of the last year, jumped well to easily qualify for Tuesday’s final.
Brandon McBride advanced to the 800-metre final and looked strong.
Matt Hughes qualified for the final in steeplechase, and Elizabeth Gleadle in javelin.
Barber, Canada’s last world champion standing, was heartbroken for Drouin but not the team.
“My heart goes out to him. He had his heart in the competition, so I hope for his speedy recovery,” Barber said. “(But) we have a strong team whether we lose some of the veterans or not. I think we’re going to put up some great performances. To lose one or two athletes is not to lose a team.”