Media Room
Press ReleasesJune 17, 2004
Rivalries Renewed As Athletes Strive For Olympic Standards
It wasn't long ago that Shane Niemi of Kamloops was suffering the loneliness of a Canadian 400-metre runner.
Now 26, Niemi has for years been Canada's top competitor in the one-lap sprint and his personal best of 44.86 seconds, earned en route to winning a gold medal at the 2001 Francophone Games, remains the national record for the arduous sprint event.
Enter Chilliwack-born, Edmonton-based Tyler Christopher, who at age 20 has emerged as a prolific sprinter around the 200 and 400-metre turns and looks ready to challenge five-time national 400-metre champion Niemi for supremacy in this Olympic year.
Niemi and Christopher are set to bring their rivalry to the track at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium on July 1 in contesting the men's 400 metres at the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic presented by Golder Associates. Both athletes have enjoyed success outside Canada this outdoor season as they chase the Olympic A-qualifying standard of 45.37 seconds.
Niemi recently finished third in an international event in Naples after opening up the season with a victory in Greece and then in Torino, where his winning time of 45.46 served notice he is close to attaining the Athens standard.
On June 5 Christopher ran a personal best 20.50 to win the 200 metres at a meet in Poland, just missing the Olympic A-standard of 20.45 but superb nonetheless as an early season effort. On May 21 in French Guadeloupe he sprinted the seldom-run distance of 300 metres and rewrote Atlee Mahorn's 18-year national mark for the distance with a sizzling 31.77-second effort.
Last week in Germany Christopher ran 45.90 to finish second in the 400 metres, serving notice he appears ready to run even faster as the July 9-11 Olympic trials in Victoria loom.
Also entered in the Jerome meet 400 metres is reigning U.S. indoor champion Jimmie Hackley, who ran a good early season 20.31 for 200 metres back in April. Also in the fray is another American Milton Campbell, who was the 400-metre silver medallist at the 2001 world indoor championships.
While the sprinters are battling it out on the track another power and speed event - the women's pole vault - will feature a pair of Canadian rivals who have already attained Olympic standard in their event and appear bent on pushing each other to even better performances.
Dana Ellis comes into the Jerome meet having rewritten the Canadian record twice in the month of May. The 24-year-old native of Kitchener, Ont., has a pending national record of 4.43 metres recorded last month at Carson, Calif., in a season that has seen her literally catapult herself into the top 15 international women's rankings.
Ellis, a former gymnast who took up pole vaulting when injuries forced her out of the gym, began what appears to be a career 2004 season in tying Stephanie McCann's Canadian record of 4.41 metres at a May 2 meet in Houston, Tex. She later made the national mark her own with a 4.42-metre leap in Modesto, Calif., and improved upon that again at Carson with her 4.43-metre effort.
McCann, 27, will no doubt be looking to regain the national mark at this year's Harry Jerome meet, where she comes in as reigning meet and national champion. Her best so far this year is a 4.40-metre effort at Phoenix on May 14, which is also the A-qualifying standard for the Summer Olympics in Athens.
This year's Harry Jerome Track Classic also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Miracle Mile in presenting the LegaciesNow Miracle Mile: Gold Edition. In 1954 Britain's Roger Bannister and Australia's John Landy waged a furious battle in the mile event at the British Empire Games in Vancouver. Bannister won the race with Landy second and both competitors finished the race in under four minutes - an event known ever after as The Miracle Mile.
The Jerome meet is also part of the PacifiCanada track and field series. Upcoming events in the series are:
- June 23 - Review Kajaks International Track Classic, Richmond
- June 26 - Abbotsford International Track Classic, Abbotsford
- July 3 - Victoria TrackFest Twilight Meet, Victoria
Contact: Diane Clement
(604) 261-6220
dclement007@mac.com
Meet information:
www.harryjerome.com
www.pacificanada.ca
If you have any questions contact: media@harryjerome.com
