Posted: July 24, 2006

Athletics: West Vancouver’s Reid Gustavson breaks national decathlon record at Canadian junior track and field championships

SHERBROOKE, QC - Reid Gustavson of West Vancouver put together a performance he’ll never forget in the men’s decathlon which concluded on Sunday at the Canadian junior track and field championships.

The 18-year-old recent high school graduate posted personal bests in nine of the 10 events and totalled a Canadian junior record 7,080 points for the gold medal. The previous mark was 7,001 held by Dan Mezheritsky of Abbotsford, B.C., since 2003.

On Sunday he established personal bests in the final five events including a six-metre improvement in javelin at 51.26 metres and a nine second improvement in the 1,500 at 4:26.67 to end the competition. The only event he didn’t improve upon was the high jump on Saturday. He also beat the qualifying standard for the world juniors next month in China by 30 points.

‘’I’m pretty surprised,’’ said Gustavson, a member of the world youth team last year. ‘’With three events left I was about 80 points behind where I wanted to be at that point. That javelin throw came out of nowhere and before the 1,500 race I was a pack of nerves. I just kept telling myself to calm down.’’

Aaron Dixon of Vancouver was second at 6,768 and Mark Chenery of Victoria third at 6,575.

Also on Sunday, Brian Barnett of Edmonton and Kimberly Hyacinthe of Lachenaie, Que., sprinted to their second gold medals in two days with victories in their respective 200-metre races.

Other winners in men’s competition were Miguel Wason of Hamilton in the 400 hurdles, Curtis Moss of Burnaby, B.C., in the javelin, Marcus Dillon of Toronto in the 3,000 steeplechase, Darren Mazzei of Regina in the 800, Kurt McCormack of Souris, P.E.I., in the triple jump, Taylor Petrucha of Saskatoon in the pole vault, and Justin Greif of Tisdale, Sask., in the shotput.

Moss, 19, won the javelin with a 66.54 metre throw, a personal best by two metres.

‘’I hadn’t been throwing well most of this season, so today’s performance is a relief,’’ said Moss, who also met the world junior standard. ‘’I came to this meet with some solid training under my belt and that made the difference. I never panicked throughout the competition.’’

Other winners in women’s competition were Sarah Wells of Markham, Ont., in the 400 hurdles, Jessica Furlan of Regina in the 3,000 steeplechase, Bereket Ogbasilassie of Montreal in the 800, Rochelle Kokayko of Kelowna, B.C., in the hammer throw, Camille Richard in the triple jump, and Kaitlyn Andrews of Toronto in the shotput.

The Ottawa Lions Club took the gold in both the 4X100 and 4X400 relays with Mike Robertson racing in both finals. In the women’s relays, B.C. Athletics won the 4X100 and the University of Toronto the 4X400.

The Canadian team for the world junior track and field championships August 15-20 in Beijing will be officially announced this week by Athletics Canada.

Full results: Athletics Canada.

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