By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The Bell Track and Field Trials, featuring the top Canadian senior level and Under-20 athletes, are scheduled to take place Wednesday, June 26 to Sunday, June 30 at the Sports Complex of Claude-Robillard in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

WATCH ENGLISH FEED JUNE 26-30 OF BELL TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS ON ATHLETICSCANADA.TV | WATCH FRENCH FEED JUNE 26-30 OF BELL TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS ON ATHLETICSCANADA.TV

Here are 10 storylines to follow at the country’s Olympic Trials event:

Hammer throw stars motivated to nail down Olympic gold

The only nation to sweep the men’s and women’s hammer throw gold medals at the same Olympics is Poland, achieving the feat in 2000 in Sydney and again in 2021 in Tokyo, but Canada has a significant opportunity to produce the powerful double in Paris, despite the country never having previously won Olympic gold in either event.

Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg swept the hammer throw titles at the World Athletics Championships last year in Budapest, Hungary, helping Canada become the first nation to earn both crowns at the meet in the same year since Poland in 2017.

Both competitors are expected to throw Wednesday in their respective finals, with Katzberg leading an outstanding field that also includes reigning NCAA champion Rowan Hamilton from Cal Berkeley, Division 1 finalist Jeremiah Nubbe of Texas and veteran Adam Keenan.

Rogers and Jillian Weir lead the women’s hammer throw field, which also features a special entry in Australian standout Stephanie Ratcliffe, who won the NCAA championship last season for Harvard, before transferring this year to Georgia.

Katzberg, the reigning Canadian champion, increased the national record to 276-10 (84.38m) on April 20 at the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya, producing the best throw globally since 2008 and elevating to the No. 9 all-time competitor.

Rogers, who has won three national titles, is No. 5 in global history with her Canadian all-time mark of 257-11 (78.62m), which she achieved last year at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

A new sprint standout ready to shine

Audrey Leduc has made significant strides since winning the 2018 Canadian Under-20 title in the 100-meter dash in 12.11 seconds.

Leduc is now the fastest female sprinter in the country’s history following her wind-legal 10.96 performance April 20 at the LSU Alumni Gold event in Baton Rouge, eclipsing the 1987 mark of 10.98 by Angela Bailey.

Leduc, who reached the World Indoor semifinals in the 60-meter dash in March in Scotland, leads the women’s 100 field that includes Jacqueline Madogo, Sade McCreath, Leya Buchanan, Donna Ntambue and Crystal Emmanuel.

Although Leduc ran a wind-legal 22.36 in the 200 on May 31 at the Edwin Moses Legends Meet in Georgia for the fastest recognized effort in Canadian history, it is uncertain if she will compete in the event at the meet or only focus on the 100.

Emmanuel had run 22.50 in 2017.

Defending decathlon champion building toward potential repeat in Paris

Damian Warner, the reigning Olympic decathlon gold medalist, is only scheduled to compete in three events at the meet, but he is the favorite to win two of them, competing Saturday in the 110-meter hurdles and long jump, following his entry Friday in the 400 meters.

Warner, one of four athletes in global history to surpass 9,000 points in the decathlon, is looking to follow the path of American standout Ashton Eaton by winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals. Eaton achieved the feat in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Warner has won four national titles in the 110 hurdles and captured a pair of Canadian outdoor championships in the long jump, in addition to one indoor long jump crown.

Craig Thorne is a leading contender in the 110 hurdles, with Scott Joseph and Johnathan Jacob looking to prevail against Warner in the long jump.

Christopher Morales-Williams, the reigning NCAA Division 1 indoor and outdoor 400-meter champion competing for Georgia, produced the fastest outdoor performance in Canadian history by clocking 44.05 seconds on May 11 at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Gainesville, Fla.

Morales-Williams is one of five entries in the men’s 400 with sub-46 performances. Warner’s fastest career mark remains 46.54 from 2016.

No obstacles, but still a big barrier for Sutherland

Savannah Sutherland, who twice lowered the Canadian record in the women’s 400-meter hurdles competing for Michigan in the semifinals and final at the NCAA Division 1 Championships in Oregon, has the Olympic standard at 53.26 seconds and isn’t expected to contest the event at the meet.

But Sutherland, who ran the fastest indoor 400 in Canadian history on a 200-meter track by clocking 51.60 last year at the Division 1 championship meet in Albuquerque, N.M., wants to challenge herself against Colorado State graduate Lauren Gale, the top 300-meter performer in the country’s history following her 36.53 effort May 22 in Norway.

With Gale and Sutherland, in addition to Zoe Sherar, Madeline Price (Duke), Kyra Constantine (USC), Grace Konrad, Ella Clayton (Oregon), Alyssa Marsh (Ohio State), and Miami (Florida) athletes Makenzy Pierre-Webster and Aiyanna Stiverne, there are 10 athletes entered in the 400 boasting sub-51 performances, making it one of the deepest fields in the entire meet.

Gale elevated to No. 4 in Canadian history in the outdoor 400 by clocking 50.47 on June 4 at the Royal City Inferno, the fastest performance by any of the country’s female athletes since 1992.

Sage Walker, who previously held the 400 hurdles national record, is returning to race at the Trials against former Vanderbilt standout Brooke Overholt, who finished fourth last season at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas.

Still work to do for De Grasse

Andre De Grasse has the Olympic standards in both the men’s 100-meter dash and 200 meters, so as long as the 29-year-old standout arrives healthy in Paris, he remains a medal contender in either event, along with Canada being a podium threat in the 4x100-meter relay.

But De Grasse has yet to run sub-10 in the 100 or sub-20 in the 200 this year, looking to eclipse at least one of those barriers at the meet.

De Grasse is entered Friday in the 100 and is expected to square off against Brendon Rodney, Malachi Murray, Duan Asemota, Eliezer Adjibi, Jerome Blake and Aaron Brown.

De Grasse has won five combined Canadian titles in the 100 and 200, including the latter last year. It is uncertain whether he will double at the Trials.

His wind-legal 19.62 performance to win gold in the 200 at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics remains the Canadian record. De Grasse also won the Diamond League crown in the 200 last year, in addition to contributing to Canada winning the World title in the 4x100 relay in 2022 in Oregon.

Brown, Rodney and Blake are also potential contenders in the Trials 200 final.

New face setting the pace in steeplechase

Ceili McCabe, a standout at West Virginia, arrives in Montreal as the Canadian record holder in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase following her 9:20.58 performance May 17 at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix Distance Classic at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

In order for McCabe to capture her second Canadian national crown in three years Thursday, she will likely have to hold off Regan Yee, who won the title last season.

The field is one of the strongest at the meet, including former Oregon State star Grace Fetherstonhaugh, in addition to Alycia Butterworth and Jessica Furlan.

Yee (9:24.82), Butterworth (9:28.68), Fetherstonhaugh (9:31.27) and Furlan (9:33.45) rank Nos. 3-6 in Canadian history.

Jean-Simon Desgagnes is entered in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase, as well as the 1,500 and 5,000, but his primary quest is to improve on his No. 3 Canadian all-time mark of 8:15.58 and secure the Olympic standard of 8:15.00.

Desgagnes is expected to square off Thursday in the steeplechase against Aaron Ahl and John Gay, with special entry Mick Stanovsek from Australia also scheduled to compete.

Arop ready to return to rarefied air

Marco Arop, the reigning World champion in the men’s 800 meters, has competed in the 4x400 relay this year as much as his signature event in an effort to help Canada in the country’s pursuit to qualify for the Olympics by racing in early May at the World Relays in the Bahamas.

But all indications from his limited 800 schedule demonstrate that Arop is ready to challenge for the Olympic title in August, looking to win his third consecutive Canadian title and fourth overall, beginning Friday.

Arop clocked a Canadian all-time mark of 1:42.85 to place second in September at the Diamond League final in September.

He prevailed in 1:43.61 at the Diamond League event April 20 in Xiamen, China.

Matti Erickson, Zakary Mama-Yari, Yassine Aber and Wisconsin standout Abdullahi Hassan have all run under 1:47 in the 800, but it will take a significant improvement for any of the competitors to provide a serious challenge to Arop.

The women’s 800 is expected to be a highly competitive event, with Jazz Shukla, Madeleine Kelly, Aurora Rynda (Michigan), Addy Townsend and Arkansas competitor Tiana LoStracco all expected to compete.

Mitton seeks shot put grand slam

Sarah Mitton is pursuing a fourth consecutive women’s shot put crown Friday, but the bigger goal remains her adding an Olympic medal in Paris to her impressive career collection of podium finishes.

Mitton is a significant favorite in a competition in Montreal that includes Grace Tennant and Liv Sands.

But she’ll be looking to surpass the 20-meter mark for the third meet during the outdoor season and the fifth time overall this year, including her 66-4 (20.22m) effort March 1 in Scotland to win the World Indoor gold medal.

Mitton also improved on the Canadian all-time outdoor mark with a world-leading 67-10.25 (20.68m) performance May 11 in Pennsylvania.

Mitton has earned medals at both World Indoors and the World Outdoor Championships, as well as at the Pan American Games, NACAC Championships and Commonwealth Games.

The 28-year-old standout is looking to erase the memory in Paris of finishing 28th in the qualifying round in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics and not advancing to the final.

Depth on display in distance events

Among the many track highlights during the meet are expected to be the men’s and women’s 1,500 and 5,000 finals.

Moh Ahmed, Ben Flanagan, Thomas Fafard and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot are expected to race Thursday in the men’s 5,000.

Philibert-Thiboutot is also entered Saturday in the 1,500, matching up against a field that features former Washington standout Kieran Lumb, in addition to Wake Forest graduate Robert Heppenstall, Cameron Proceviat, Foster Malleck, Aaron Ahl, Matthew Beaudet and Jean-Simon Desgagnes.

Regan Yee is scheduled to compete Thursday in the 5,000, with Gabriela DeBues-Stafford also in the field, as well as Briana Scott, Julie-Anne Staehli, Erin Teschuk and collegiate standouts Gracelyn Larkin (Northern Arizona), Florence Caron (Penn State) and Ella Baran (Colorado).

The women’s 1,500 has the potential to showcase former Utah star Simone Plourde, along with Lucia Stafford, Kate Current and Oregon State graduate Grace Fetherstonhaugh in Saturday’s competition.

Pole position

The top two women’s pole vaulters in Canadian history are scheduled to square off Friday, with Alysha Newman looking to win for the third year in a row and the sixth time overall, with Anicka Newell seeking her first national championship since 2018.

Newman cleared a Canadian all-time mark of 15-10 (4.83m) indoors in February in France. She also boasts the top outdoor performance in the country’s history at 15-9.75 (4.82m).

Newell cleared a lifetime-best 15-5 (4.70m) in 2021 in Texas and boasts a top career outdoor mark from 2017 of 15-3 (4.65m).

Heather Abadie of Texas A&M, who finished sixth at the NCAA indoor final in March in Boston and tied for 20th place at the Division 1 outdoor championship June 6 at Hayward Field in Oregon, is also expected to compete, as well as Rachel Hyink and Robin Bone.