Theisen-Eaton’s pentathlon gold the lone Canadian medal
Many of country’s big names skip World Indoor Championship event
Peter Eriksson hardly looked like a man crushed Sunday by his nation’s performance at the World Indoor Championship.
Sure, Canada heads home with just one medal — a gold from Brianne Theisen-Eaton in the pentathlon. And sure, the United States rattled off five podium performances in five minutes on Saturday night en route to ruling the medal table with 23 podium performances. Ethiopia was next with five. “If you look at the gold-medal standings, we’re ahead of the Great Britain team,” quipped Eriksson, head coach for Athletics Canada. “So that’s a plus. I told the chairman of the board for UK Athletics, ‘We’re ahead of you guys now’.”
Trashing talking a Commonwealth neighbour aside, Eriksson is not distressed by Canada’s lone medal, because the 14-person contingent came here with modest objectives in the first place.
With no Andre De Grasse in the men’s 60 metres, no Derek Drouin in the high jump and no Melissa Bishop in the women’s 800 metres, Canada left many of the big names at home to concentrate on training for the Rio Games.
In truth: three or four Canadian athletes checked in to the Oregon Convention Centre with a legitimate shot at gracing the podium. Pole vaulter Shawn Barber joined the prestigious six-metre club in January and came in as the reigning outdoor champion.
He placed a disappointing fourth with a high vault of 5.75 metres on the opening night here in Portland.
Nicole Sifuentes, of Winnipeg, lost a shoe in the women’s 1,500 metres — thus quashing her chances of defending her world indoor bronze from 2013.
Rising star Tim Nedow, of Brockville, Ont. was crowned the shot put champion this year in the International Association of Athletic Federations inaugural World Indoor Tour. He also flirted with greatness with a throw of 21.33 metres — just shy of Dylan Armstrong’s indoor record of 21.39 metres. But he struggled in Portland, finishing seventh.
“I’m disappointed in myself,” said Nedow, 25. “But I know if I throw my personal best at the right time, it’s going to be a good thing to do in Rio. It will hopefully get me in podium position.’’
Scarborough’s Crystal Emmanuel, 24, ran a personal best of 7.23 seconds twice in the 60 metres at the world indoor championships. Angela Whyte, of Edmonton, shocked everyone in attendance by cruising to a fifth-place finish in the 60-metre hurdles.
But the highlight of these world championships — for Canada, and perhaps even her adopted state of Oregon — had to be Theisen-Eaton’s breakthrough on Friday night in front of a delirious crowd.
The Humboldt, Sask. native won silver at the 2013 world championships in Moscow, the 2014 world indoor championships in Sopot, Poland, and the 2015 world championships in Beijing.
She finally realized gold here with a clutch performance — finishing 13 seconds ahead of the Ukrainian leader — in the 800 metres.