Strength in numbers: Deep Canadian team ready to step up at World Athletics Championships

When this year's World Athletics Championships gets underway, a record number of Canadians will be looking to repeat as champions.

But those four athletes – hammer throwers Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg, decathlete Pierce LePage, and 800-metre runner Marco Arop – aren't the only ones expected to challenge for gold in Tokyo.

Canada is sending a total of 59 athletes (30 men and 29 women), its largest-ever contingent to compete at the world championships, and Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert believes the team's strength lies in its depth.

"I think we've got a really balanced group of athletes. We've got throws, we've got jumps, multi events, we've got the sprint side, we've got walks," Gilbert said from the Canadian team's training camp in Gifu, Japan. "When you look across all our event groups, I think we're very well represented. And I think that we can certainly expect some good competition from a few of those event groups."

The team features a mix of established veterans and youngsters, but Gilbert wants to see the same thing from each member of the team in Tokyo as the push toward the next Olympic Games begins.

"I'm hoping to see what we call performance-on-demand…which is stepping up and performing when it counts the most, and that's at major championships," he said. "So, [I want] to see some of the newcomers come away with personal bests, seasonal bests, this type of stuff, and possibly getting to semifinals and finals.

"You're looking to see how your veterans are going to perform, but also how some of the newcomers are going to be coming through — and that's how we pretty much gauge performance at least through the pathway between now and L.A. 2028."

Aaron Brown, Perdita Felicien give their podium