McBride

The end of the 2019 athletics season was a tale of two races for Brandon McBride.

At the end of August, McBride showed how he can rise to the occasion in a stellar field, taking third place in the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zürich, clocking a time (1:43.51) that was within a whisper of his Canadian record in the 800 metres. He had achieved the Olympic standard and added a medal to his resume, just in time for the World Championships.

But McBride would not have the same success on the track in Doha. Looking to improve upon his eighth-place finish at Worlds two years earlier, McBride missed an opportunity to make a move early in the 800 metres and fell to fourth place in the last 20 metres of his semi-final. The result left McBride with a disappointing end to the season. He would have to wait a long time to get back on the track and redeem himself, as the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out his plans for the 2020 season.

It was only a year earlier that McBride set that Canadian record at a meet in Monaco, supplanting Gary Reed’s 10-year-old mark with a new 800-metre milestone: 1:43.20. He would go on to win the 800-metre event at the NACAC Championships in Toronto a month later.

Having won the 2014 NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the 800 metres in a 2014 season that saw him race undefeated, McBride represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games that summer, unfortunately being disqualified in both the 800 metres and the 4x400-metre relay. He was part of Team Canada at home for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, coming one spot short of qualifying for the men’s 800-metre final and placing fourth with his teammates on the 4x400-metre relay team. He made his Olympic debut in Rio the next year, advancing to the 800-metre semi-final.

Closer to home, McBride is a four-time senior National Champion in the 800 metres, taking gold in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019.

With a chance to re-assert himself as a force in the 800 metres, and a championship pedigree from college and national titles, McBride goes to Tokyo with the motivation to write an Olympic success story.