OTTAWA – A month after a record setting NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships for the UBC Thunderbirds, the blue and gold continue to turn heads as the summer national and international track and field season heats up into high gear.
A bevy of T-Birds past, present and future were recently in the nation's capital competing at the 2026 Canadian Track and Field Championships where a number of medals and personal best performances shone through.
T-Bird alumnus and 2024 Olympian, Kieran Lumb, successfully defended his 5000 metre title, taking home gold by nearly a five second margin with a final time of 14:24.29.
Three time Olympian Evan Dunfee race walked away with gold and a new half marathon race walk Canadian record, crossing the finish line in 1:26:56.63. His time smashed the previous Canadian record by over five minutes and the old Championship record by more than 10.
Following a career-defining junior NAIA season in which he claimed UBC's first ever hurdles championship,
James Kerr took silver in Ottawa in the senior men's 400 metre hurdles with a new personal best time of 50.16, the fourth time this year the Ontario native set a new lifetime mark.
Little over a month after securing the NAIA women's triple jump title as a freshman,
Nunu Ishaka finished with silver in the U20 division, reaching 12.19 metres.
Three time NAIA hammer throw champion Rowan Hamilton took silver with a top throw of 75.45 metres.
Having just completed her freshman season at UBC,
Catarina Bell earned silver in the U20 women's javelin having reaching 40.93 metres.
Four-time NAIA pole vault champion
Sonya Urbanowicz finished fourth in Ottawa, clearing 4.25 metres.
Haley Martin finished fourth in the women's senior 400 metre hurdles, clocking in at 59.96.
Will Van Schagen finished sixth in the men's U20 400 metre hurdles with a time of 54.18.
Alumna
Katie Newlove claimed eighth place in the women's senior 5000 metres with a final time of 16:47.87.
Incoming freshman Carson Gauthier hit a personal best javelin throw of 59.83 metres to finish seventh in the senior men's division, a distance which would have placed him in the top ten at last month's NAIA National Championship.
2026 NAIA long jump champion
Amelia Cha finished ninth in Ottawa, her best attempt reaching 5.84 metres.
Andrew Corbeil finished 12
th in the men's U20 1500 metres with a time of 4:03.58.
While the 2026 Canadian Track and Field Championships are now long finished, the summer is still just getting started for several current T-Birds and alumni.
James Kerr will soon be off to Germany as part of Canada's NextGen Olympic Program. Based in Stuttgart, Kerr and the other 27 members of the team will travel to a number of competitions across Europe through the first couple weeks of July.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will feature a number of T-Birds as Dunfee, Hamilton and Lumb will all compete for Canada in Glasgow starting July 23.
Canadian Track & Field National Championship Results
