The Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships for 2024 have come to a close. Over 900 athletes took part in this year's championships, with BC sending a strong contingent of 40 athletes, one of the largest provincial contingents. Team BC brought home an incredible medal haul, consisting of 10 golds, 15 silvers, and 9 bronzes. With so many outstanding performances, it's impossible to highlight all of them. Here are just a few of the amazing performances by BC athletes over the past weekend.
Soaring to New Heights
The Langley Mustang's Mackenzie Hurtubise soared to a new Championship Record en route to winning the U18 Women's Pole Vault competition, with a vault of 3.93m. Hurtubise will also represent Team Canada later this month at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru, after winning the silver medal at the Canadian U20 Championships in June.
BC's Gabrielle Armstrong took the silver medal with a vault of 3.60m. Armstrong was the 2024 BC High School Champion in June with a vault of 3.56m and took the silver in the 80m hurdles at the event.
Golden Hat Trick
Gursher Gabri took home an impressive three gold medals in the U16 Men's throws. Gabri won the discus with a throw of 56.08m, the shot put with a throw of 17.22m, and the hammer throw with a throw of 65.68m. Gabri's hammer throw was over 15m further than the next best throw.
BC won 9 of its medals in the throws events, the most of any field event by far, reinforcing BC's position as a powerhouse of throwing.
Jack of All Events
Lily Stroda put together an extremely impressive heptathlon at the championships, finishing with the gold medal in the U18 Women's Heptathlon and a total points score of 5076. Stroda was just 48 points off of the championship record and an impressive 300 points ahead of the field. Stroda had a set of performances ahead of the ones that are a part of the current U18 National Record in the 100m hurdles and the javelin with performances of 14.03 and 40.02m, respectively, en route to the score.