Lalonde

Having not had a race to run in 2020, Geneviève Lalonde hit the ground running in 2021, setting new personal best times in the 3,000 metres and 5,000 metres in back-to-back races in Britch Columbia this May.

Lalonde had a bounce back 2019 season, in her demanding and intensely competitive event, the 3000-metre steeplechase. After already holding the Canadian record of 9:29.99 set at the 2017 IAAF World Championships, Lalonde went all out for the Canadian record at the Shanghai Diamond League competition in May. Coming in seventh overall, Lalonde chipped away and set a new national record of 9:29.82. She won her third consecutive Canadian Championship, before winning gold at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, finishing the challenging steeplechase course in a time of 9:41.45. Lalonde capped off her season by racing in her third World Championships in Doha, Qatar, finishing 14th in the women’s final.

In 2018, hamstring and Achilles injuries were a cause for concern but Lalonde’s health and confidence improved as the season went on. She would go on to win the 3000-metre steeplechase title at the Canadian Track & Field Championships and capture the Canadian title at the Canadian Cross Country Championships, her first in four years.

Lalonde’s performance in Kingston, Ont., led her to the 2019 NACAC Cross Country Championships where she finished fifth, in addition to a Top 20 finish at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships where she became the first senior woman to finish in the Top 20 since 2004.

Five years ago, Lalonde got on an impressive roll in the 3,000-metre steeplechase. In May of 2016 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., the Montreal-born, Moncton, N.B., raised Lalonde ran the seven-lap obstacle course in 9:32.17, setting a Canadian record.

In mid-August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lalonde ran the race of her life, slicing her own record down to 9:30.24 to qualify for the Olympic final. She ran in the third of three qualifying heats, having to place in the top three or run a 9:30-ish time to advance.

It was Lalonde’s good fortune to be in the same heat as Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet, the eventual Olympic Champion. The pace was so quick that four women in the heat set new national records. Lalonde placed 14th in the heat, but her time was quick enough to earn a berth in the final, where she finished 16th.

Lalonde had given a preview of her impressive 2016 season in 2015 when she placed third in the steeplechase at the Pan American Games in Toronto in July that year. She also competed at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, placing 19th.

Two years before that, Lalonde had won bronze in the steeplechase at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice, France.

Lalonde got into running in New Brunswick, working with coach Gabriel Leblanc, and swiftly demonstrating elite ability. With a fast start to the 2021 season in the books, she looks to make another appearance in the Olympic final.