Posted: May 17, 2005

Athletics: Mondor Scraps Track Season

From David Monti

(c) 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Émilie Mondor, the second fastest Canadian woman of all time over 5000m, has decided to scrap her summer track season, citing both injuries and the effects of an unspecified illness over the winter.

"Health issues and latest injuries have obliged Canadian Champion and Olympian Émilie Mondor to think about her long term plan for this year's summer track season," said a statement posted on her website, www.emiliemondor.com. "Very sick over winter, the return to hard intensity trainings have been putting her 24 years old body under lots of pressure causing some problems to adapted to the track training."

Mondor's statement said that she "prefers taking care of her general health and slowly build up toward a fall season of road racing and cross country." She would like to be ready to represent Canada at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Edmonton in October.

Mondor had strong seasons in both 2003 and 2004. In 2003 she won the Fukuoka Cross Country, set a Canadian record for 5-K on the road (15:19), won the Canadian 5000m title in a championships record 15:08.90, finished 12th at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics at 5000m, and set a Canadian record for 5000m (since surpassed) of 14:59.68. She also won the North American 5-K Team Challenge individual title and smashed the course record at the Manchester Road Race. Last year she ran a gravity-aided 31:10 10-K on the road and defended her Canadian 5000m title, but at the Olympic Games she did not advance to the finals in the 5000m, finishing 8th in heat 2.

Mondor, never at a loss for words in either English or French, seems to be taking this setback in stride. "The Post-Olympic year is often a year of transition for lots of elite athletes and part of the process on refocusing upon new goals for the next 4 years cycle," the web statement also said.