Canadian team expecting big things from 54 athletes going to world track and field championships

Canada is sending a star-studded team to the track and field world championships as 30 women and 24 men, who have won a combined 15 Olympic medals, will compete at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., July 15-24. 

The team is led by six-time Olympic sprint medallist Andre De Grasse, 2020 Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner, and Moh Ahmed, who won silver in the 5000 metres in Tokyo last summer.

All three were absent from the national championships — Warner and Ahmed were out due to injury, De Grasse had COVID — but officials with Athletics Canada have said they expect all three to be 100 per cent for the world championships. 

"We have had some great performances at national championships last week in a variety of events. We were also missing some athletes who will be at worlds, so we are anticipating some great results overall in Eugene," Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert said in a statement. "With the world championships as our benchmark event, we're expecting the athletes to perform at their very best and this is our strongest team."

Canada is coming off one of its most successful Olympic performances, having won six medals at the Tokyo Games last summer. At the previous world championships in 2019 in Doha, Canada won four medals — one silver and three bronze. 

WATCH | Sarah Mitton lands on Diamond League podium:

Along with de Grasse, Warner and Ahmed, there is a long list of podium threats for Canada at worlds.

Shot putter Sarah Mitton is coming off a second-place finish at the Diamond League event in Sweden after smashing the Canadian record during nationals in Langley with a throw of 20.33 metres. 

Sprinter Aaron Brown had his fourth career sprint double at nationals, winning both the 100m and 200m. Teammate