By Tyler Reis-Sanford
Lauren Gale’s expectations are clear for the 2025 Canadian Track and Field Championships – to execute her race, and to let the rest come to her.
The 25-year-old Olympic sprinter has been putting in lots of work with coach Richard Johnston of the nationals-host Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, trying to perfect the finer aspects of her form in preparation for the World Athletics Championships, to be held in Tokyo this September.
Gale said the last 60 metres of her 400 have always been a challenge, and staying smooth and trying not to press have been key in helping her refine her technique.
“They call it my ‘swimming arm’”, explained Gale. “I kind of flail and it looks like I’m swimming the last bit, so keeping the arms smooth and at that strong 90 degree position, we’ve been working on it and hopefully I can execute on that tomorrow.”
Gale qualified for the senior women’s 400 m final with a time of 52.50 seconds, good for first in her heat and just ahead of her national relay teammate Jasneet Nijar, who qualified with a time of 53.17. Gale took a commanding lead early in the race, quickly outpacing the rest of the pack, but her lead narrowed as Nijar closed the distance in the final 40 m.
Gale entered the 2025 season coming off an up-and-down Olympic experience at the Paris 2024 Games. The past South Carleton High School and University of Ottawa student was struck by illness early in the Games and ran more than two seconds slower in Paris than her personal-best time of 50.47 from earlier in the season. But Gale showed improved form as she anchored the young Canadian women’s 4×400 m relay team to a solid sixth-place finish.
Like many athletes coming off of an Olympic season, Gale has been nursing injuries that have lingered longer than she’d like, including recurring Achilles inflammation that she said affected her nervous system and left her temporarily unable to push off her foot.
“The Olympic year is really important,” Gale highlighted. “When you have injuries during that season, you just tend to patch it up and trudge on, but you definitely feel the consequences the following year.
“We do a lot of therapy, a lot of treatment, but it’ll help in the long term. A lot of athletes struggle with injuries post season, but we’re all here to compete.”
Gale put in several strong performances during the spring. She helped push Canada to a new national record in the mixed 4×400 m relay and helped the women’s 4×400 m team qualify for the World Championships as well at May’s World Athletics Relays in China. Her season-best time came shortly after that when she ran 51.00 in Poland.
With the 2025 World Athletics Championships less than two months away, and with her longer-term sights set on making her third Canadian Olympic team for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Gale isn’t too worried about maximizing her output and peaking for Friday’s final, when she’ll nonetheless line up with the chance to win her first national title on her home track.
“To be honest, I’m focused on worlds right now, and facing some injury, so I’m in a little bit of a setback right now,” noted the two-time senior national 400 m silver medallist. “This nationals might not be my peak, my star moment, but I’m still gonna come out and compete with these awesome competitors and see how it goes.”
On top of her typical training, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, and work outs, Gale has another important event she’s preparing for in 2025 – her wedding.
“It’s a little crazy, we timed it so it’s after worlds, luckily not in the season. When we travel to Tokyo, it’s a 13-hour flight, so I get the wifi and I’ll be looking at stuff,” smiled Gale. “It gives me something to do during all that travel, and my fiance’s been great, taking care of a lot of stuff. I’m very grateful for his help, it’s a team effort really.”
With her fiance, future in-laws, family and friends all in attendance at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility, Gale said even though she isn’t fixated on taking home gold, a win on her home turf in Ottawa would certainly be a dream come true.
“It would be so awesome to represent the Lions, to represent my family and friends here,” underlined Gale.
Joining Gale in Friday’s 4:24 p.m. final is Savannah Sutherland, the 21-year-old national record holder from Saskatoon, who was the only runner to outpace Gale in the semi finals with a time of 52.32 seconds. Favour Okpali, Zoe Sherar, Madeline Price, Jasneet Nijjar, Dianna Proctor and Micha Powell round out the eight-woman field.
Local athletes bagged their first medals of the July 30-Aug. 3 Canadian Track and Field Championships on Thursday evening.
After debuting with a 15:02.13 clocking in his first 5,000 m race earlier this month at the Canadian Track and Field League Final in Ottawa, 2024 OFSAA cross-country running champion and recent Louis-Riel high school grad Daniel Cova of the Lions blazed to a 14:24.11 time and the silver medal in the under-20 men’s 5,000 m final on distance night at the nationals.
The Lions’ Connor Fraser captured the silver medal in the senior men’s discus with his toss of 50.23 m, while Ottawa’s Kevin Robertson, who now represents Saint-Laurent Sélect, won the bronze in the five-man senior 3,000 m steeplechase in 8:40.86.
Read More: Daniel Cova storms to U20 silver medal in his new 5,000 m pursuit
