Canadian Operating and Underneath Armour have teamed up for the 2024 Canadian U Sports activities indoor observe and discipline season to focus on a few of the prime homegrown skills throughout the nation. Every week, main as much as the 2024 U Sports activities Indoor Monitor and Discipline Championships in Winnipeg subsequent month, Canadian Operating will choose one female and male observe and discipline athlete because the Underneath Armour Athlete of the Week.
The award will go to a female and male U Sports activities observe and discipline athlete who achieved a standout efficiency, broke a faculty file or crushed a private finest. These athletes shall be featured on Canadian Operating and awarded an Underneath Armour prize pack that includes the brand new UA Infinite Elite coaching shoe. This week we spotlight one other two sensational athletes who shattered college data: Aaron Thompson of the College of Western Ontario and distance runner Chloe Turner of the College of Calgary, for his or her performances between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11.
Feminine Athlete of the Week: Chloe Turner–girls’s 3,000m
Chloe Turner ran to a 19-second private finest within the girls’s 3,000m final Saturday on the Husky Traditional in Seattle. Turner’s time of 9:15.37 is the highest mark in U Sports activities this 12 months over 3,000m by 10 seconds, and places her 20 seconds beneath the U Sports activities Championship customary. What’s much more outstanding is that she is barely in her first 12 months of competing on the U Sports activities stage and is already tearing up the observe.
“I used to be actually pleased with the race; the previous few years, I’ve been specializing in the 5,000m and the 1,500m, and haven’t gotten an excellent likelihood to see what I might accomplish within the 3,000m,” says Turner. “This was an superior alternative to see what I might do.”
At 18, Turner is among the nation’s finest up-and-coming younger athletes. Final 12 months, she received U20 Pan-Am gold within the 5,000m and a person Canadian Cross Nation title within the girls’s U20 race, which earned her a possibility to symbolize Canada on the World XC Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, this March.
With quick outcomes come massive objectives, and Turner isn’t shying away from the highlight. “I feel I’m able to doing higher, and I stay up for getting the prospect to race some women in Canada within the subsequent few weeks on the CanWest convention championships,” says Turner. “I’m additionally tremendous excited to symbolize Canada on the World Cross Nation Championships in Serbia later this spring!”
Turner is coached by former Canadian Olympian within the girls’s 5,000m, Jessica O’Connell, on the College of Calgary.
Male Athlete of the Week: Aaron Thompson–males’s 60m
Final weekend on the College of Windsor Workforce Problem in Windsor, Ont., Aaron Thompson ran a brand new private better of 6.72 seconds within the males’s 60m. His electrifying time is the quickest 60m time in U Sports activities this 12 months and ranks sixth within the self-discipline amongst Canadian sprinters in 2024. Accolades for his breakout efficiency didn’t cease there; he additionally set a brand new Western Mustangs college file. Later, within the 300m occasion, Thompson recorded his second-fastest time of the season (34.15), which earned him the highest spot on the Windsor Workforce Problem.
“I used to be pleased with the race and honoured to get the college file,” says Thompson on his efficiency. “I simply ran a race that I used to be comfy with; I didn’t even realize it was an excellent time till I acquired swarmed by my teammates.”
That is his first season competing for the College of Western Ontario after working for the College of Waterloo throughout his undergrad program. “I’m new to Western and tremendous fortunate to be surrounded by such good coaches and teammates who push me to be the very best athlete I could be.”
Heading into the convention championships, Thompson shall be ranked #1 within the OUA convention in each the 60m and 300m. “I might like to have a strong efficiency at U Sports activities,” says Thompson. “There’s an opportunity I get on the rostrum in 4 occasions, in order that’s an excellent objective for me to work in direction of even when it’s a daring one.”
Thompson reveals that he acquired a late begin to sprinting and is at present targeted on studying extra in regards to the sport and having fun with the method. “I’d like to preserve competing for so long as I could make it work,” he says. “This summer time I’ll be competing outdoor and would love to return prime 10 within the 400m on the Olympic Trials, however we’ll see!”
Dawson Mann and Amy Stieh named Underneath Armour U Sports activities Athletes of the Week
If you need to appoint a Canadian U Sports activities athlete for Underneath Armour Athlete of the Week, ship @canadianrunning a message on Instagram or electronic mail marley@runningmagazine.ca.
