Bingham

Khamica Bingham made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 where she anchored the 4x100-metre relay team to a sixth-place finish, inching out Team China by thousandths of a second, in what was Canada’s first Olympic final in the event since Los Angeles 1984. She missed advancing to the 100-metre semi-final by just one place.

Getting to Rio 2016 wasn’t an easy task for Bingham. Four months prior to the Olympic Trials, Bingham injured her knee with a cartilage tear, leaving her with only a month and a half to prepare for the biggest race of her life. She already had the Olympic standard and only needed to place in the Top 3 to be named to the team for the 100-metre event. Bingham finished a devasting fourth place. Fortunately, because two runners ahead of her were not competing in the event, she was granted a fitness test at 80 metres to prove that she was ready to compete at the Olympic Games.

One week before the Olympics got underway, Bingham had two attempts to pass the 80-metre test in a time of 9.10 seconds. On her first attempt, she failed running 9.20 seconds; however, on her second run she passed the test clocking 9.10 seconds on the dot.

Bingham enjoyed a stellar 2015 season. She anchored the 4x100-metre relay team that broke the national record at the 2015 IAAF World Relays, running 42.85 seconds to finish fourth and qualify Canada for Rio 2016. After becoming the national 100-metre Champion, she went on to anchor the 4x100-metre relay to bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto where she also finished sixth in the 100 metres, posting a personal best time of 11.13 seconds. She was also the anchor on the 4x100-metre relay team that repeated their sixth-place finish at the IAAF World Championships with a national record of 42.60 seconds.

Though 2015 was her most successful year on the track to date, Bingham lost her close friend and teammate, Daundre Barnaby, to a drowning accident in St. Kitts. She and four others were also in the water at the time. Following Barnaby’s death, Bingham made a promise to him to finish strong, like he did in his races, and also the race of life.

Bingham was the only Canadian, male or female, to qualify for a 100-metre final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, coming back from a debilitating stomach virus at the height of her season.

In 2017, Bingham tore her Achilles tendon in her left leg and missed almost the entire season. She returned in 2018 only to tear the Achilles in her right leg in June. She made her second comeback in 2019 and won both the 100 metre and 200 metre titles at the Harry Jerome Track Classic in Burnaby, B.C. Bingham was back with the 4x100-metre relay team for the World Relays and Pan American Games, winning silver at the latter.

In 2021, Bingham finished second in the 100 metres at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal, and with that second-place finish accumulated enough World Rankings Points to secure her ticket to Tokyo 2020.

Bingham ran collegiately for the University of Toronto. She won three consecutive gold medals at the CIS Championships (now U SPORTS) in the indoor 60 metres and 4x200-metre relay from 2013 to 2015. She added a 300-metre indoor title in 2014. The indoor 4x200-metre title in 2013 set a Canadian record with a time of 1:36.53.

In 2012, she just missed the podium in the 100 metres by 0.01 seconds at the World Junior Championships, finishing fourth one year after placing fifth at the World Youth Championships. Bingham represented Canada at the 2013 Summer Universiade, finishing fourth in the 100-metre semifinals.

Bingham is passionate about motivational speaking and giving back to her community. She is an advocate for helping young girls to stay in sports, shares her story to inspire others to reach their full potential and co-founded Meet My Melanin during the pandemic to talk to students about racial inclusion and to help minorities to be seen, heard and known.