Ready to run through the door

After a string of fourth-place finishes in relay, Canadian women are poised for a breakthrough

- KERRY GILLESPIE

From left, Canada's Maddy Price, Alicia Brown, Kyra Constantine and Sage Watson just missed the podium at the Tokyo Olympics.

Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert enjoys talking about relay teams, having run on the 4x100-metre team that won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games and having shepherded the current men’s squad to recent Olympic and world podiums.

But when the topic turns to the women’s 4x400 relay team, and how it’s shaping up for the Paris Olympics, his enthusiasm hits a whole new level. He has good reason to be pumped.

Canada’s 4x400 women’s team has placed fourth often — at the last two Summer Olympics and the last two world championships. Those near podium finishes were achieved with a mix of runners who, individually, had not run sub-51-second 400s.

“When you bring them together, collectively they’ve done unbelievable things. They punch way above their weight when it comes to major championships,” Gilbert said.

“The beauty is, this year, we’ve got a couple of women already that have (times of) 50-point (seconds). We haven’t seen that in quite some years and there’s a couple of others in the field that can also do that.”