Team Canada had a remarkable 20 minutes in Diamond League action in Birmingham, England on Saturday. In a short period of time, Canadian athletes won three gold medals and four medals overall. The Canadian gold medalists were Aaron Brown of Toronto, Ontario (men’s 100 metres), Marco Arop of Edmonton, Alberta (men’s 800 metres), and Django Lovett of Surrey, British Columbia (men’s high jump). Team Canada won a fourth medal in the men’s 100 metres thanks to a bronze medal by Jerome Blake of Burnaby, British Columbia.
In the men’s 100 metres, Brown posted a time of 10.13 seconds in a rather slow race. Yohan Blake of Jamaica won the silver medal with a time of 10.18 seconds. Jerome Blake won the bronze medal with a time of 10.20 seconds. Jerome Blake reached the podium by 0.04 seconds over fellow Canadian Andre De Grasse of Scarborough, Ontario, who had a time of 10.24 seconds, while Brown reached the podium by 0.11 seconds. Brown, De Grasse, and Jerome Blake all were part of the Canadian team that won silver in the men’s 4x100m relay at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
In the men’s 800 metres, Arop had a time of 1:45.41. Ben Robert of France had a time of 1:46.22. Bryce Hoppel of the United States won bronze with a time of 1:46.33. Arop, who had an excellent final stretch, and reached the podium by 0.98 seconds over Jake Wightham of Great Britain, who had a time of 1:46.39.
Finally in the men’s high jump, Lovett had a winning jump of 2.28 metres. Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy won the silver medal with a jump of 2.25 metres. Norbert Kobielski of Poland won the bronze medal with a jump of 2.25 metres. Lovett reached the podium by 0.06 metres over Shelby McEwen of the United States, who had a jump of 2.22 metres. The medals for Brown, Jerome Blake, Arop and Lovett will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
