Posted: March 24, 2006

Athletics: Chantal Petitclerc brings home gold for Canada at Commonwealth Games

MELBOURNE - Chantal Petitclerc of Montreal successfully defended her title in the women’s 800-metre wheelchair race on Friday to highlight Canada’s best day so far in track and field at the Commonwealth Games.

Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., was third in the same race and silver medals were earned by Angela Whyte of Edmonton in the women’s 100 hurdles and James Steacy of Lethbridge, Alta., in the men’s hammer throw.

Canada has 10 medals in track and field (two gold, six silver and two bronze) and is in a good position to achieve its goal of surpassing the 12 medals it won four years ago in Manchester with one day of competition remaining.

In the women’s wheelchair 800, Petitclerc clocked a Games record one minute and 48.98 seconds to successfully defend her title. Eliza Stankovic of Australia was second in 1:49.62 and Diane Roy of Sherbrooke Que., third in 1:53.76. Tracey Ferguson of Toronto was eighth.

‘’I had a wonderful race,’’ said Petitclerc. ‘’I knew this was a fast track and I wanted to get that record. My start was very strong and except for brief period early on, I dominated. To go under 1:50 in March is very encouraging for the rest of the season. I have a very busy schedule and I my main plan is not to burn myself out before the world championships this summer.’’

Roy wanted at least a top-three finish.

‘’My strategy was to have as fast a start as possible,’’ said Roy, a bronze medallist at the 2004 Paralympics. ‘’But Chantal and Eliza took off like rockets and I was never able to reel them, although I wasn’t too far back. So I really need to work on my top speed. But at least I got comfortably into third and basically did the race on my own.’’

In the women’s 100 hurdles, Brigitte Foster-Hylton of Jamaica took the gold in 12.76 seconds with Whyte second in 12.94 and Delloreen Ennis-London of Jamaica third in 13.00

‘’It was a great accomplishment for me to get a medal here,’’ said Whyte, sixth at the 2004 Olympics. ‘’The time wasn’t the greatest, my start wasn’t good, I hit some hurdles but I kept running and working and that’s all that went through my mind. My goal was to beat Brigitte, she’s number-two in the world now, but she was great again and it didn’t happen but there’ll be other races.’’

In the men’s hammer throw, Stuart Rendell of Australia was the winner with a Games record 77.53 metres, Steacy was second at 74.75 while Christiaan Harmse of South Africa was third at 73.81. Derek Woodske of Canal Flats, B.C., was seventh.

Steacy achieved his best distance on his sixth and final throw which bumped him up one spot

‘’This is easily the highlight of my career,’’ said Steacy, the Francophone Games champion last year. ‘’I achieved my goal by winning a medal here. On that last throw I didn’t want to just hand the silver medal over to Chris. I was feeling some pressure because I hadn’t matched my first throw so I went for broke.’’

In the men’s 50 kilometre walk, 41-year-old Tim Berrett of Edmonton finished fifth in four hours and eight minutes and 18 seconds in what he said was his last Commonwealth Games appearance. The race was won by Nathan Deakes of Australia in a Games record 3:42:53.

‘’It’s not quite what I had hoped for,’’ said Berrett, a national team member since 1990 who has competed at the last four Olympics and won Commonwealth Games medals in 1994 and 2002. ‘’I felt the silver and bronze medal times were achievable for me. I was O.K., for only half the race.’’

In other finals, Diane Cummins of Victoria was fifth in the women’s 800, Courtney Babcock of Chatham, Ont., seventh in the women’s 5,000 and Matthew Kerr of Elora, Ont., eighth in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase.

In men’s 4X100 relay qualifying Canada advanced to Saturday’s final clocking 38.86 seconds to win its heat with Charles Allen of Brampton, Ont., Anson Henry of Pickering, Ont., Nathan Taylor of Coquitlam, B.C., and Emanuel Parris of Etobicoke, Ont. It was the third best time overall.

In the men’s 1,500 qualifying, Nathan Brannen of Cambridge, Ont., was third in his heat and third overall to advance to Saturday’s final in 3:38.55. Kevin Sullivan of Brantford, Ont., also advanced finishing fourth in his heat in 3:41.25.

Track and field competition ends on Saturday. Also on the start lists for Canada are Scott Russell of Windsor, Ont., in the men’s javelin and Kelsie Hendry of Saskatoon, Stephanie McCann of Surrey, B.C., and Dana Ellis of Kitchener, Ont., in the women’s pole vault.

Athletics Canada is the national sport governing body for the sport of track and field including cross-country running and road running.

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