EDMONTON, Alberta — Brandon McBride’s Olympic dream became a reality Sunday.
McBride, who completed his senior season as a distance runner at Mississippi State earlier this year, became Canada’s national champion in the 800 meters to secure a spot on his nation’s track and field team that will compete next month in the Rio Olympic Games.
The Windsor, Ontario, native led from start to finish at the Canadian Track and Field Championships to win by nearly a second with a time of 1 minute, 45.25 seconds.
McBride will join MSU teammate Marta Freitas in Rio.
“Couldn’t have done this without my coaches, mentors, inner circle,” McBride said on Twitter on Sunday. “So blessed. Let me get off social media before I get all emotional.”
Freitas, who clinched a spot in Rio for her native Portugal in the 1,500, was also in action Sunday. She finished fifth in the 1,500 (4:34.41) at the European Championships in
Amsterdam.
MSU standout Erica Bougard’s quest for Rio fell short in the heptathlon at the United States Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Bougard finished seventh with 6,070 points. She opened the day by landing 20 feet, 9 1/4 inches to win the long jump, but 19th- and 14th-place finishes in the javelin and 800, respectively, dropped her to seventh.
McBride and Freitas will have plenty of competition from athletes from the Southeastern Conference.
Six members of the Ole Miss track and field family qualified for the Games, shattering the previous school record of two for the 1988, 1992, and 2012 Olympics.
Gwen Berry (women’s hammer throw), Sam Kendricks (men’s pole vault), Brittney Reese (women’s long jump), Ricky Robertson (men’s high jump), and Raven Saunders (women’s shot put) will represent the U.S. team, while Antwon Hicks will represent Nigeria in the men’s 110 hurdles
Reese, the gold medalist in the long jump at the 2012 London Games, is making her third-straight appearance for Team USA. The other five Rebels who have qualified for Rio will make their Olympic debuts.
In addition to the athletes, Ole Miss track and field coach Connie Price-Smith will serve as the women’s Olympic coach for Team USA. Price-Smith was a four-time Olympian (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) and 25-time U.S. champion during her days as one of the world’s best shot put and discus throwers.
Despite not qualifying for the Olympics, junior Craig Engels had a strong showing in the 800 and in the 1,500 at the U.S. trials. Engels finished fourth in the final of the 800 in a personal-best time of 1:46.03. He finished fifth in the final of the 1,500 final in a school-record time of 3:37.66. He overcame early obstacles when he stumbled and fell after a collision in the semifinals of the 800 semifinals but was reinstated to the final after an official review. He also had to wait until midway through the trials to find out if he would be accepted into the 1,500 qualifying round as he had a borderline seed time entering the meet.
Opening ceremonies for the Rio Olympics will be Aug. 5. Ole Miss’ athletes will compete Aug. 12-21.
n In other action from the U.S. Olympic Team trials, Allyson Felix had the star power to change the Olympic schedule.
Now her schedule needs adjusting.
Felix’s run at the 200-400 Olympic double, made possible after Olympics officials honored her request for a chance to run both races, came to an earlier-than-expected end Sunday. She finished fourth in the finals of the 200, one spot away from Rio, in a .01-second loss to a sprawling Jenna Prandini.
“Honestly, disappointed,” said Felix, who will not get a chance to defend her Olympic title in her signature event. “The whole year, that has been what I was working for. When I look back and see everything that happened, I still think it’s quite amazing I was able to make the team.”
She did make the 400 lineup, and that is, indeed, quite an accomplishment considering the injury she suffered this spring. After landing awkwardly on an exercise ball while doing core work, she rolled her right ankle.
The injury was so severe she avoided running around the track in the correct, counterclockwise direction until just before trials, for fear she would put too much outside pressure on her injured ankle.
In track parlance, a sprinter doesn’t necessarily have to be “fast” to succeed in the 400 — a full lap around the track in which technique is more important than pure speed. But in the 200, it takes a more aggressive lean into the curve at the opening of the race — just the sort of “speed work” Felix didn’t get enough of during her slow comeback.
“I could only do what I could with the ankle,” she said.
And so, she started slow, never made up ground against winner Tori Bowie or second-place Deajah Stevens and could not hold off Prandini, the former University of Oregon star who had to wait about 30 seconds to see the result for third place go up on the board. Afterward, she was scraped-up but smiling.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Prandini, who finished in 22.53. “But it got the job done.”
One of Felix’s biggest fans made news earlier in the day: According to USA Track and Field, 16-year-old Sydney McLaughlin will be the youngest member to compete for the U.S. Olympic track team since 1972 after finishing third in the 400-meter hurdles.
Not bad for the junior out of Union Catholic High School in New Jersey, who turned on the Beijing Olympics eight years ago, saw Felix winning the 4×400 relay and thought, “I’d like to be like her, someday.”
Asked what she liked most about Felix, McLaughlin said: “She wasn’t afraid to lose.”
“Sometimes, I get so caught up in the fact that I hadn’t lost a hurdles race, and I come here, and these girls are faster than me,” said McLaughlin, who admitted to being so nervous earlier in the week she considered pulling out of the meet. “It’s realizing that sometimes you have to lose to get better.”
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