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Audrey Leduc Sets New Canadian Women’s 100m Sprint Record

Audrey Leduc Sets New Canadian Women's 100m Sprint Record

Exciting and fascinating news for all Canadians, as Audrey Leduc sets new 100m sprint record for Canadian women.

Audrey Leduc, a sprinter, moved closer to the Olympic standard in the women’s 100m race. On Saturday, she met her aim while breaking a long-standing Canadian record.

Leduc finished second in 10.96 seconds outdoors at the LSU Alumni Gold competition in Baton Rouge, La., after clocking 11.08 and falling 1-100th of a second short of the Paris Olympic mark on March 30 at the Florida Relays.

Aleia Hobbs won in 10.88 seconds, with fellow American Celera Barnes coming in third (11.10).

Leduc’s performance Saturday in a legal breeze (+0.5 metres per second) beat the national record of 10.98 set by the late Angela Bailey on July 6, 1987, at the Budapest Grand Prix in Hungary.

Bailey, who also won a silver medal in the women’s Olympic relay in 1984, died on July 31 from lung cancer at the age of 59.

The 25-year-old Leduc began her 2023 outdoor season with 11.53 at the Florida Relays in Gainesville and established a then-personal best of 11.38 on July 15 at the Ontario U20 and Open Athletics Championships in Toronto.

She raced well indoors earlier this year, running a 7.21-second personal best in the women’s 60m semifinals at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, but did not make the final, finishing 18th in Glasgow.

Leduc ran 7.22 in her heat earlier in the day, a week after running 7.25 at an event hosted by Laval University, where the five-foot-seven athlete studies business.

In August 2022, Leduc set a Canada Games record in the women’s 100, winning in 11.55 seconds in Thorold, Ontario. Evan Dunfee, a two-time Canadian Olympian, and Olivia Lundman gained the 21st of 22 qualifying berths for Paris in the marathon race walk mixed relay at the World Athletics team championships in Antalya, Turkey.

Athletics Canada reports that they finished the 42.2-kilometer race in three hours, seven minutes, and ten seconds, setting a national record.

Valentina Trapletti and Francisco Fortunato of Italy finished first among 64 competitors on Sunday in 2:56:45.

Teams completed the race in four legs: 12.195 km (man), 10 km (woman), 10 km (man), and 10 km (woman).

On August 7, the mixed team event will replace the 50-kilometer solo competition at the Olympics.

Dunfee began his competition season in January by setting Canadian and North American records in the 10,000-meter event with a roughly 11-second personal best in Canberra, Australia.

He qualified for Paris in the men’s 20 km event last August 19, finishing in 1:18:03 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Dunfee ran 1:18:41 at the 92nd Poděbrady meet in the Czech Republic, just two weeks ago.