Seccafien

One of Canada’s most accomplished distance runners, Andrea Seccafien has dominated the Canadian women’s 5,000 metres scene for the past eight years. She has won five Canadian titles (one in the 5-kilometre road race), was the top-ranked Canadian in the 5,000 metres at the Rio Olympics, as well as at the World Championships on two occasions.

Seccafien capped off an impressive World Championships in 2019 with her first-ever sub-15-minute 5,000 metres to secure her spot in Tokyo at the Olympic Games. The middle-distance runner ran a personal best to make the final, hitting 15:04.67 in the semi-final and then she bettered her personal best only two days later, running 14:59.95.

The 5,000 metres is a grind and athletes need to run a 3:59 1,500 metres to even be competitive – something Seccafien feels is out of reach despite her fitness. Therefore, slowly since December 2017 when she made her debut in the 10,000 metres, Seccafien has been testing her limits and pushing herself at the further distance.

The half marathon was step one in the process to officially transition to the 10,000 metres. On April 22, 2018, Seccafien made her half marathon debut, posting a time of 1:13:19. Her next attempt, the Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon in February of 2020, she shaved three seconds off the national record set by Natasha Wodak only two weeks earlier.

After spending weeks in the U.S. training at high altitude, Seccafien laced up for arguably the most courageous race of her career – the 10,000 metres at the Sound Running Track Meet in Irvine, Calif., on May 14 where she stopped the clock at 31:13.94. Up against some of the strongest distance runners in the U.S., Seccafien smashed the Canadian record by more than 28 seconds, crossing the finish line more the seven seconds ahead of American Ednah Kurgat and well under the Olympic Entry Standard of 31:25.00. Later that month, Seccafien took to the start line at Griswold Stadium in Portland, Ore., to lower her personal best and Olympic qualifying time in the 5,000 metres, crossing the finish line in 14:57.07.

Seccafien’s distance increase isn’t stopping at 10,000 metres or even 21 kilometres following the Olympic Games where she plans to double in the 5,000- and 10,000-metre events. After the next World Championships, she’s confident she’ll be done with track and plans to move to the marathon by 2022.

A runner in high school, Seccafien accepted an offer to Alabama’s Samford University only to have the program scrapped soon after she arrived. She transferred to the University of Guelph in 2010 where she won 5,000-metre gold at the 2013 Canadian Track & Field Championships. A foot injury kept her sidelined during the 2015 season and then, once healed, she opted to change everything – her mechanics, diet, training and coach. In 2016, she ran 15:17.81, beating the Olympic standard time of 15:20 and her own personal best. Seccafien made her Olympic debut in 2016 where she was the top-ranked Canadian woman in the 5,000 metres. She continued to train in Toronto through the 2017 season, and following the World Championships made the move to Australia, where she joined the Melbourne Track Club – one of the most successful clubs in the world – to train under coach Nic Bideau; a decision that has paid dividends in the years that have followed.