Andre De Grasse long ago achieved GOAT status in the pantheon of Canadian track athletes. We don’t need to go over his sprint resume.
He added to it again Friday night, with a gold medal run in the men’s 100 metre final, cutting through the wet, chilly weather in a time of 10.09 seconds.
“It's always special to compete at home from the home crowd. You don't get many opportunities to do that, so competing here for my family, my friends, of course the Canadian crowd, it's incredible. It never gets old to me,” De Grasse said. “'m not really happy with the time, but with the conditions and the rain and everything, I'll take it. I know I'm in better shape than that, so I’ve just got to get some warm weather, and I'll be back under sub-10 seconds.”
Audey Leduc keeps adding to her sprint resume, too, winning the women’s 100 metre final in a sizzling time of 10.94 seconds amidst a first-class field and in front of a home crowd.
“It’s just truly incredible. To actually be doing this here. This is the second year running in Ottawa,” Leduc said. “To do it here on the track where I used to run as a youngster – running laps on Wednesday evenings, spending time with my family. I think it’s really special.”
George Quarcoo captured the men’s para ambulatory 100 metre title with his run of 11.36 seconds in the final, running alongside guide Segun Makinde.
“I came in a little bit worried, but I trusted the process, executed what we've been practicing at home here, trusting coach’s process. I think that's what got us through the finals,” Quarcoo said.
Chloe Dunbar had to run her best race to take home the gold in the women’s para ambulatory 100 metre final. Lined up against Paralympians Marissa Papaconstantinou and Sheriauna Haase, Dunbar ran a huger personal best time of 12.27 seconds for the win.
“It's raining outside and a little cold, but I was really happy with my race. I started off strong and then as I built up, my top end came together,” she said.
Wyatt Lee conquered the U20 100 metre event, taking home gold with his time of 10.25 seconds.
“I was kind of nervous because it was raining and it was really cold. So originally, I wanted to go 10.1 if the conditions were right, but 10 two in the cold and a little bit raining, I cannot complain at all,” he said.
Tia Porteous won gold in the U20 women’s 100 metres, clocking in with a time of 11.44 seconds to repeat her 60 metre indoor title from this past winter.
“I feel like this is honestly such a surreal feeling. I'm so proud of myself, especially because this is my first outdoor season and I'm just getting started,” she said. “The fact that I'm able to be out here and competing with all these girls who've been out here for so many years, I'm just so proud of myself.”
Austin Smeenk has started his Championships with gold, taking the men’s 100 metre wheelchair title in a time of 15.71 seconds.
Jessical Lewis earned a national title with her time of 16.06 seconds in the women’s 100 metre wheelchair final.
Mitton Leads Throwing Excellence
Sarah Mitton demonstrated the quality that has her among the top shot put athletes in the world, storming to her 6th straight Canadian title with her best throw of 19.48 metres.
“This one was hard. I love weather and I love something I need to work on, so this sixth title is just something that brings me so much joy,” Mitton said. “You can take it for granted a little bit when things go well and I've had a really good career so far. I think I've faced a little bit of challenges this year and I'm starting to realize the work that goes into it to maintain that.”
Double Paralympic champion Greg Stewart launched a throw of 15.83 metres to win gold in the men’s para ambulatory shot put event.
“This one's really exciting because Coach and I had the conversation of our expectations were to not have expectations. My life is so different now, fatherhood, married life. I'm doing my master's. There's a lot of really cool things going on right now,” Stewart said. “Then just coming here and focusing on the training and doing the best we can at just not having any expectations showed and I really, really enjoyed this competition.”
Katie Pegg got the shot put parade started early, notching a gold medal throw of 11.97 metre in the women’s ambulatory final.
“Distance wise, I’m not the happiest. Definitely there's a lot more still in the tank, still more I want to put out there,” Pegg said. “But in terms of the emotional regulation portion, I'm really happy about that because for a bit it was really negative but being able to stop that and really build my way back up was really positive for me. So, if there was any win, it was definitely on that mental performance side.”
Maxime Landry won the men’s seated javelin event, with hist best throw of 22.38 metres earning the gold. Amanda Fanizza won the women’s seated javelin final with her throw of 9.11 metres.
Louis-David Gagnon’s fourth throw flew 60.20 metres, good for gold in the men’s U20 discus event and a new Canadian Championships record. Ava Campbell earned the women’s U20 javelin crown with her throw of 45.73 metres. Mykayla Scarlett won the women’s U20 hammer throw with a throw of 55.53 metres.
Dayley Reimer is your 2026 Canadian women’s javelin champion, thanks to her throw of 46.82 metres. Ash Renneberg won the women’s para ambulatory javelin title with her throw of 32.29 metres.
Morales Williams Continues His Golden Season
Christopher Morales Williams is still riding the momentum after his world indoor title, and that momentum took him right to the top of the podium in the men’s 400 metre final and a time of 45.58 seconds.
“I always love coming back to this meet. It's my favorite one of the year, honestly, because I'm on home soil and family gets to come, so it's just always nice to be back home,” he said.
Lauren Gale was the class of the women’s 400 metre final, outpacing a deep field of contenders to win gold with a time of 51.94 seconds.
“I think going from a junior title to a senior title is a big jump, so I'm really excited and to do it in my hometown, on the track I'm at every single day. I was telling people this is my home, this is my mailing address. Where I sleep,” Gale said. “I'm just kidding. But I'm here every day and to win nationals on this track is even more special.”
Zach Gingras was the man to beat in the men’s par ambulatory 400 metre final, but no one would catch him. Gingras’s gold medal time was 53.18 seconds.
Zachary Jeggo won gold in the U20 men’s 400 metres with his time of 47.56 seconds.
“Wind and rain were a huge factor, so I wasn't really running for times or anything in this meet. My season has been a little up and down mentally and physically. I'm really, really ecstatic to get the win today,” he said.
Charlotte Bosma took the U20 women’s 400 metres in a time of 53.44 seconds.
“Today I was just really focusing on going relaxed and trying not to get in my head. I've really been trying to focus just running my own race, not worrying about the competition, not worrying about what's going on around me. I think that was especially helpful today given how rainy it was,” Bosma said. “In our blocks they said ‘on your marks’ and it started torrentially started downpouring. I think me just trying to focus on running my own race, trusting my body, trusting my experience that I know how to run, that that's just going to take over and I'm going to be able to sail across the finish line and I think I was really able to do that today.”
Redwood and Young Rule Over 1500 Metres
Lauren Redwood won the women’s 1500 metre wheelchair event Friday morning, grabbing gold with her time of 5:47.14.
“It's been a hard couple of years, and I really just needed to push through it. I trusted myself and I'm happy with the result,” Redwood said. “Now I start training for provincials, I'm doing a fundraiser this summer and I’m just trying to get more speed to come back next year and smash it.”
Tai Young was victorious in the men’s 1500 metre wheelchair race in a gold medal time of 4:12.65.
“The race was really good. The wind was pretty rough on the back stretch, so I tried to get as low as possible and really wait it out until I could fly around the fast side,” Young said. “I've been enjoying this year quite a bit because it's so nice to just see all the new teammates. We have a brand new racer with us and she's amazing and it's just really nice to be training with everyone. It's such a great community.”
Frame Runners Make Their Mark
Kate O’Brien won the first women’s frame running 100 metre Canadian championship, racing to a time of 17.18 seconds.
Maxime Henrie earned his Canadian title with a time of 22.10 seconds in the men’s frame running 100 metres.
Jumping Onto the Top Wrung of the Podium
Gabriel Genest won the men’s U20 pole vault event with a top jump of 5.12 metres.
Matthew Chow took gold in the men’s U20 long jump, leaping to a distance of 6.91 metres. Brooklyn Taylor was the women’s U20 long jump champion with her jump of 5.84 metres.
Heptathlon Heading for a Tight Finish
Noémie Chopin does not have a lot of room between her and second-place competitor Clémence Lavoie. Only 3 points separate the two, as the first day of the women’s U20 heptathlon wraps up.
In the senior bracket, Hannah Blair has a 187 point cushion with three events to come on Saturday.
Moving On
It was a full day of qualifications for the stacked weekend schedule we have planned.
Catch up with all the results from the 2026 Canadian Track & Field Championships so far.
Saturday at the 2026 Canadian Track & Field Championships presented by Bell
We’re getting off to an early start, as the men’s and women’s race walk half marathon gets us going at 7 a.m. More track finals today include U20 and senior 100 metre hurdles, 110 metre hurdles and 400 metre hurdles – in addition to 1500 metres, 200 metre wheelchair finals and the nightcap: Marco Arop racing a talented field in the 800 metres.
The field is stacked with medal events, with para finals for discus, shot put, long jump and javelin. U20 champions will rise in pole vault, high jump, and triple jump finals. Senior national champions will be decided in long jump, discus, high jump, pole vault and javelin. World and Olympic champion will throw for gold in the men’s hammer throw event.
About the 2026 Canadian Track & Field Championships presented by Bell
The 2026 Canadian Track & Field Championships Presented by Bell take centre stage at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility in Ottawa between June 17-21.
This year’s Championships will include national championships for Open, U20, Para Athletics and Combined Events and will determine the Olympic Program athletes who will compete at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Get all the information on schedules, live results, tickets and more at the 2026 Canadian Track & Field Championships homepage.
Stream all the action live from Ottawa on AthleticsCanada.tv. The live webcast and on demand videos are available for RunnerSpace +PLUS subscribers. Sign up here.