CHANGING LANES

Madeleine Kelly surprised Olympian Melissa Bishop-Nriagu (and herself) by winning the national 800-metre crown,

Brandon McBride, his coach Kurt Downes, and sports psychologist Penny Werthner sat down before Saturday’s 800-metre final to map out a race plan.

“The original plan was to take (the lead) and control it,” McBride said. “But (Werthner) said ‘Let’s map out a Plan B just in case. Plan B was Marco (Arop) runs aggressive and takes (the lead).

“And let’s just say it’s a good thing we mapped out Plan B, because that’s exactly what happened.”

The 25-year-old from Windsor, Ont., overtook Arop with 250 metres to go en route to a victory in the 800 at the Canadian track and field championships, crossing in one minute 44.63 seconds.

Arop, a 20-year-old originally from Khartoum, Sudan, led wire-to-wire to upset McBride in last year’s championships. He took the silver on Saturday.

This year’s upset happened in the women’s 800. Madeleine Kelly outkicked world silver medallist and new mom Melissa Bishop-Nriagu to win the gold in 2:02.37. Bishop-Nriagu finished in 2:02.40 in her third 800 race of the season.

Kelly said on a perfect day, she believed she might win bronze.

“I surprised even myself,” Kelly said, with a laugh. “I’ve been super consistent around 2:02, 2:01, so I thought I could be in the mix. Very happy with how it went.”

Kelly is from Pembroke, Ont., a 30-minute drive north of Eganville where Bishop-Niagru grew up.

“We’re both from the Ottawa Valley, so I’ve been very aware of her my entire life, from our crappy county meet, she had all the records,” Kelly said. “So I’ve admired her for such a long time, she’s been such an inspiration for me, so pretty surreal to do that today.

“But I also give her a lot of credit for showing me that running that fast was possible.”

Bishop-Nriagu, who took last season off to give birth to daughter Corinne, had been hoping to dip under the world championship standard of 2:00.60. Her Canadian record is 1:57.01 set in 2017.

“I think right now it’s about getting ready for October, and really prepare to be there,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting the standard right now.”

Bishop-Nriagu hasn’t posted fast enough times in her comeback season to get into top international meets such as the Diamond League series.

McBride ticked the world standard box two weeks ago when he finished fifth in the Diamond League in Monaco. His time of 1:43.83 there was just shy of his Canadian record of 1:43.68. He said he likes the challenge the young Arop has posed the past two seasons.

“It keeps me honest, it gives me something to look forward to at Canadian nationals and trials,” he said. “I like going into the race a little nervous, coach and my sports psych will tell you I get super nervous, it doesn’t matter if I’m racing alone (in a weaker field) or with eight world-class guys, I get nervous nonetheless.” Phylicia George won the women’s100-metre hurdles in a photo finish. Just five thousandths of a second separated gold and bronze. The 31-yearold from Toronto clocked 13.304 seconds, Mariam AbdulRashid took the silver (13.306) while Michelle Harrison claimed the bronze (13.309).