Mason

Less than half of the members of Canada’s Olympic athletics team have Olympic experience from Rio 2016. A few go back to the Games of London 2012, but Michael Mason is the only member of the team who competed in Beijing in 2008.

Longevity has been a hallmark his, helping Mason remain one of Canada’s top high jumpers since he won gold at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships. He is a five-time Canadian high jump champion, winning his first title in 2007 and his most recent high jump crown in 2019. That 2019 season also included a silver medal in the high jump competition at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, and an appearance in the finals of the IAAF World Athletics Championships.

The previous year was capped by Mason taking silver in the high jump competition at the 2018 NACAC Championships in Toronto, with a jump of 2.28 metres.

Mason achieved a career highlight with his bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, but unfortunately he was unable to repeat in 2018 in Gold Coast finishing sixth at the same event. He also finished eighth at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships. The next summer he added a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, finishing only behind teammate Derek Drouin. Less than two weeks earlier he had recorded a personal best jump of 2.33 metres in Edmonton, a height he would match in August, ahead of the IAAF World Championships.

After winning silver at the 2009 Summer Universiade, Mason had to undergo surgery in December 2010 to remove a bone chip in the ankle of his take-off foot. It took a full year to recover, during which time he considered quitting his sport before deciding he would persevere.

With the pandemic limiting him to only one indoor meet in 2020, Mason returned to outdoor competition at four Canadian meets this summer, finishing in first place is three of those competitions and reaching as high as 2.30 metres.

Tokyo will be Mason’s fourth Olympic Games, with his best finish being when he made the final at London 2012 where he finished eighth.