After an agonizing week-long wait, Athletics Canada has officially qualified a men’s 4×400-metre relay for the World Relays in the Bahamas at the beginning of May.
Canada captured the 32nd and final qualifying spot by posting a fast enough time at the Florida Relays two weeks ago. Since then, it’s been a waiting game to see if it would be enough. The qualifying time frame ended this past Sunday.
The Canadian team of Aaron Brown, Marco Arop, Ibrahim Ayorinde and Callum Robinson made the cut. It’s a crucial step for the program but the work is only halfway complete.
And Athletics Canada is calling on top Canadian NCAA talent to make that happen.
Head coach Glenroy Gilbert says Athletics Canada has been in contact with a number of NCAA programs to recruit 400m specialists.
Christopher Morales Williams, a 19-year-old at the University of Georgia, who posted the fastest indoor men’s 400m time ever of 44.49 seconds at the NCAA SEC championships last month, has been nominated to compete for Canada and is expected to attend.
Will Floyd and Myles Misener-Daley, also NCAA runners, have been nominated to the team as well.
“I do know they’re eager. The athletes have made it clear they want to be involved,” Gilbert said.
“I am really happy for our men’s 4×400. This is a talented bunch. I’m grateful for the coaches of those various programs. If this team makes it to the Olympic Games, this is an Olympian in your program that could attract other athletes to your school.”
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Also nominated as part of the 4x400m team is the 800m world champion Arop. He was part of the foursome that qualified the team for World Relays.
Now he’ll also get to play a role in helping the team try and qualify for Paris 2024.
“He did a phenomenal job in Gainesville two weeks ago. I want to be very careful with him and use him as much as he wants to race. He’s committed to doing this,” Gilbert said.
Arop told CBC Sports at the end of March he would love to be part of the team.
“I love the big moments and competing at that level. I’ve done it before and quite a bit with the Mississippi State team but I never ran the 4×400 metres with the senior Canadian team at a major championships,” Arop said. “I would be really excited if I got to compete in it.”
Now he’ll get that chance.
Canada will also be sending teams for the women’s and men’s 4x100m relays, the women’s 4x400m relay and the mixed 4x400m relay. They’ll all need a top-14 finish to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Gilbert says the usual athletes will be running the 4x100m relays, including the world championship quartet of Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney and Jerome Blake. Malachi Murray and Duan Asemota have been nominated to the team as well.
On the women’s side in the 4x100m, Audrey Leduc, Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Crystal Emmanuel, Donna Ntambue and Marie-Éloïse Leclair have been nominated to the team.
Other Canadian runners listed to the team to compete in either the 4x400m men’s and women’s relay as well as the mixed 4x400m relay include Jalon White, Michael Roth, Ibrahim Ayorinde, Callum Robinson, Kyra Constatine, Zoe Sherar, Aiyanna Stiverne, Lauren Gale, Alyssa Marsh, Brooke Overholt and Madeline Price.
The World Relays in the Bahamas are a two-day event on May 4 and 5, which will be live streamed at CBCSports.ca.
