Audrey Leduc was not disoriented by the change of track at the last minute of the Montreal Athletics Classic on Friday evening. Due to breakage in the covering of the Claude-Robillard sports complex ring discovered the day before, the racing events were urgently moved to the Ben Leduc track in Saint-Laurent.
A nightmare and a logistical headache for the organizers, but nothing to destabilize the new queen of speed in Canada. She is not related to Ben Leduc, a renowned athletics coach who was also the mentor of defender Raymond Bourque, but she already played soccer in this park and often competed there as a sprinter.
As her coach Fabrice Akué likes to say, all that matters to Audrey Leduc is having her starting block and her lane. To all honor, she had inherited the central 4 for the first of the two preliminary waves of the 100 meters at 6:25 p.m.
Paf! the young woman in the Canada red camisole did not last long in the block, taking orders while a light whispered (just enough) on her back. She passed like an arrow in front of the few dozen spectators leaning on the fence.
First by a margin. His time: 11.00 seconds (1.2), his second ever, four hundredths of his national record achieved in Louisiana on April 20. Third Canadian performance in history and competition record; the mark of 11.11 belonged to three-time Olympian Crystal Emmanuel, the same one from whom she stole the Canadian benchmark in the 200m on May 31. The finale was promising.
A few seconds later, however, Leduc went to the tent of ace timekeeper Sylvain Richard, who had been tearing his hair out during the day to move and reinstall all his equipment in Saint-Laurent. “I will not make the final, you can give my place to someone else,” announced the sprinter from Gatineau.
She then explained herself to the meeting director Laurent Godbout, who had missed his race. “I was too fast! » she said with a wink.
Leduc and Akué judged that this straight line was sufficient one week before the Canadian Olympic Trials which, this time, must indeed be contested at Claude-Robillard, whose track was repaired earlier on Friday.
“I’m really happy, the race was really good,” said the 25-year-old athlete while doing her recovery exercises on the central lawn.
“We came to execute and that’s what I did. I just have a little something somewhere. We therefore decided that we would not make the final as a precaution. The Trials are next week and it is an Olympic year after all. »
Leduc felt slight discomfort in practice on Wednesday: “Just a little feeling, I don’t know where, I can’t even say. Nothing serious. It’s really getting better, we could see it on the track. »
With what she has just achieved, she is confident of being able to improve her record of 10.96 next week. ” Yes ! We did 11.00 there. It was a first race and it usually goes better when you have a second one. »
Akué was as satisfied as his protégé. “She has proven that she is in good shape and she understands the technical elements that she has to put in place,” noted the coach. She wouldn’t gain anything from doing one more race today. »
The consistency displayed by Leduc in training translates into racing, “regardless of the level of competition”. “That’s really the issue,” Akué underlined. She demonstrates that she is stabilizing the lower 11. It’s just a matter of time before it drops to 10.9, 10.8. »
In his eyes, a new Canadian record next week “wouldn’t be a surprise…”
The final was won by Puerto Rican Gladymar Torres in 11.31. Quebecer Marie-Éloïse Leclair finished second in 11.38.
The other Quebec headliners did not have such a successful evening. Steeplechase specialist Jean-Simon Desgagnés made a rare foray into the 1500m. The disheveled dynamic of the peloton behind the two hares forced it to plug a hole and take control in the last two laps. Ontarian Jude Wheeler-Dee beat him by two hundredths in the final sprint.
Clocking 3:39.90, the 25-year-old medical student missed his personal best by just over a second and a half (3:38.50). “I had the form to get there, it’s just disappointing that the result wasn’t put on the track,” he said, regretting not being able to take advantage of “perfect” weather conditions. “It was more the tactical management of it. […] It’s bitter. »
His teammate Charles Philibert-Thiboutot avoided disaster by staying on his feet after a collision midway through the “premium” 1000m. “I almost fell on my face,” he said. I immediately said to myself: get up and stand up straight, because in a peloton, that happens. I wouldn’t want it playing in my head if I got hung up like that. at the Olympics But it was close. »
The 1500m specialist also had to deal with a “bizarre” race, forced to “yo-yo” and restart. Leader throughout the last lap, he was snatched away from victory by Ontario’s Stephen Evans in the final sprint, which he didn’t like. He crossed the line at 2:20.22, just under two seconds shy of his personal best achieved on the same track in 2021.
“In the last 100 meters, I still have energy left, but I don’t channel it in the right way because instead of gaining frequency, I lose it,” noted the man who holds his Olympic standard. In training I will have to think about this: what is happening to my legs when I tell myself to speed up? Currently, my order is not working! »
At the end of the evening, Simone Plourde experienced a slight disappointment in her first competition in five weeks, placing second in the 1500m after having had to lead almost the entire race, alongside a hare who seemed to harm her more than anything. something else. His time of 4 min 09.37 was far from his personal best of 4 min 05.9 achieved at the start of the season. It was the winner Kate Current (4 min 06.91) who benefited from her efforts.
“I did more work than I would have liked,” noted the 23-year-old half-distance runner. But it’s been a month since I competed and the sensations are good despite everything. It gives me confidence for the Canadian Trials next week. »
Plourde will then try to improve its fortunes in the race for the last available tickets for the Paris Olympics.
