Canadian Working and Underneath Armour have teamed up for the 2024 Canadian U Sports activities indoor observe and discipline season to spotlight among the high homegrown abilities throughout the nation. Every week, main as much as the 2024 U Sports activities Indoor Monitor and Area Championships in Winnipeg subsequent month, Canadian Working will choose one female and male observe and discipline athlete because the Underneath Armour Athlete of the Week.
The award will go to a female and male U Sports activities observe and discipline athlete who achieved a standout efficiency, broke a college report or crushed a private greatest. These athletes will probably be featured on Canadian Working and awarded an Underneath Armour prize pack that includes the brand new UA Infinite Elite coaching shoe. This week we spotlight one other two sensational athletes: middle-distance runner Dawson Mann of the College of Manitoba and sprinter Amy Stieh of Lakehead College, for his or her performances between Jan. 29 and Feb. 4.
Feminine Athlete of the Week: Amy Stieh–girls’s 300m
On the Jim Daly Bison Traditional in Manitoba final weekend, Amy Stieh of Thunder Bay, Ont., gained the ladies’s 300m in a season’s greatest time of 39.84. Though her time fell wanting her college’s program report set on the identical meet in 2020, she nonetheless claimed victory within the quick dash by greater than a second.
Stieh, who usually focuses on the 400m distance, has shifted her consideration to the longer 600m occasion this U Sports activities indoor season. “It’s thrilling to see that I can run some quick 300m occasions,” says Stieh. “It was a superb race. I used to be capable of execute the race plan for the place I’m within the season proper now.”
With the 2024 Canadian U Sports activities Monitor and Area Championships in Winnipeg only a month away, Stieh goals to compete within the 300m/600m double and hopes to win a number of medals. “I wish to medal within the 600m. It’ll be a quick group of women, so I’m excited to be a part of it,” says Stieh. I additionally suppose now we have a superb likelihood to medal within the dash relays. Up to now this yr, we’ve damaged the college report within the 4×200 and 4×400 a number of occasions,” she says.
Subsequent yr will mark Stieh’s closing yr competing for the Lakehead Thunderwolves, however she plans to proceed competing post-collegiately. “I wish to run for Crew Canada internationally within the 400m,” says Stieh. “Proper now, I’m simply going to benefit from the course of, after which see what I can do on the outside circuit.”
Male Athlete of the Week: Dawson Mann–males’s 600m
College of Manitoba runner Dawson Mann has been dominant this season. He has gained three of his final 4 races and ran the quickest 600m time of the 2024 U Sports activities season, clocking 1:18.53 on the Jim Daly Bison Traditional final weekend. Mann’s time was an indoor private greatest and his quickest time on a 200m observe.
Regardless of posting the quickest U Sports activities time this season and being the top-ranked runner within the 600m occasion, Mann was nonetheless “pissed off” together with his efficiency. “I wished to steer the race from the beginning and run 1:17, however I used to be in second on the cut-in and needed to wait till the ultimate lap [of three] to make a transfer,” he says. “I’m nonetheless pleased to get the win, and in a private greatest time.”
Mann has set lofty objectives for this season, particularly with the U Sports activities championships happening at his house observe in Winnipeg. “Final yr I completed fourth within the 600m, so this yr I wish to be on the rostrum,” Mann says. “I’m capturing for gold within the 600m, gold within the 4x400m, and gold within the 4x800m.”
Wanting past this season, he plans on becoming a member of the Canadian Monitor and Area League (CTFL) and competing on the Bell Olympic Monitor and Area trials in Montreal in June. “My fundamental purpose will simply be to proceed to decrease my private bests within the 400m and the 800m,” says Mann.
If you need to appoint a Canadian U Sports activities athlete for Underneath Armour Athlete of the Week, ship @canadianrunning a message on Instagram or e-mail marley@runningmagazine.ca.