Ottawa – Athletics Canada announced today the 28 athletes who have been selected to represent Canada at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. The meet will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 7-15, 2019.

The biannual event is being held at the Dubai Club for People with Determination – a non-profit organisation formed in 1993, known for hosting a wide variety of events, both sporting and non-sporting, for members with physical and mental impairments.

The team is comprised of 15 men and 13 women, with 13 athletes returning from the 2017 World Championships team that finished 15th among competing nations at the event in London, England. Two years ago, Canada won 9 medals (4 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze) and earned 38 top 8 finishes.

“Diversity is the word that comes to mind,” said Carla Nicholls, Athletics Canada’s Para Performance Lead. “We have a great mix of veterans and rookies, men and women, with multiple sport classification entries – all who will be competing for a spot on the podium.”

Team veterans include Brent Lakatos, who has had an exceptional 2019 season once again breaking several world records. Guillaume Ouellet is back after an early-season injury. He showed that he is ready to take on the world after his gold medal performance at ParaPan American Games and being ranked number one in the world. Liam Stanley is also ready to perform after coming home with two ParaPan American Games medals. Other veterans to watch for are Austin Smeenk, who has had an outstanding 2019 competition season and has climbed the world rankings to top 2 in the world, and Marissa Papaconstantinou who is currently ranked top 4 in the world and has spent the season breaking her own Canadian records several times as she prepares for the World Championships.

“This team will face some real challenges in Dubai, such as heat, time change, and length of travel,” Nicholls said. “The toughest challenge may be to prepare our athletes to perform so late in the season. Our coaches have been working together to ensure that our athletes will overcome these challenges and focus strictly on their performances when it counts.”  

Team rookies team will also look to electrify the Dubai crowd  with world record holder and ParaPan American Games gold medallist Nathan Riech currently training at high altitude to prepare for the World Championships. Greg Stewart also had a medal performance at Lima 2019 and is gearing up stay on the top of the world rankings. Sarah Mickey just missed the podium at the ParaPan Am Games in her first season of international competition and has also had an exceptional season setting Canadian records and will be prepared to perform when it counts in Dubai.

“Our team objectives are clear: medals, top 8 finishes, personal bests, and season bests,” Nicholls said. “We are heading to Dubai with 18 athletes ranked in the top 8 in the world, which is very promising for this diverse group of amazing athletes.”

Team Canada at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships:

 Athletes

Team Staff

For more information, please contact: Caroline Sharp Interim Communications Manager, Athletics Canada, caroline.sharp@athletics.ca