Alexander Colle | Sports Editor
Featured Image: Olympian Brittany Crew becomes first female in Canadian history to reach shot put finals at World Championships. | Courtesy of YFile
This August, shot put star Brittany Crew had one goal in mind before competing in the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taiwan: a gold medal. By throwing 18.34 metres in the final round, the York alumna did just that, beating the second-place finisher, Poland’s Klaudia Kardasz, by a whopping .44 metres. The win comes two years after Crew finished with bronze in the 2015 Universiade, an international competition for university student-athletes second only to the Olympic Games.
“I can’t express the feelings I have right now,” said Crew in an interview with CTV News after the win.
“I knew that I had an excellent chance of winning this event and I knew that I had to get a really good throw out in the beginning and kind of shut down some girls.”
Crew opened her set by throwing 17.74 metres, and improved the next round by throwing an even 18.00. It was in her third round where she tossed the winning throw, just falling short of her own Canadian woman’s record of 18.47 metres.
“This is my biggest medal I’ve got on the world stage so far. I’m super proud of myself and I’m ecstatic that my coach, Richard Parkinson, got to be here to experience it with me,” said Crew.
The win caps off a successful summer for the two-time York Female Athlete of the Year, as just two weeks prior, she placed sixth in the World Track & Field Championships with a best throw of 18.21 metres. This placing marks the first time that Canada had ever seen a woman compete in the World Championship final for shot put.
Unfortunately, the performance was done without Parkinson by her side, as the coach was quarantined in his hotel room with a norovirus that had affected 30 players and staff from several teams.
“I wish I was there to feel the excitement of the stadium and the crowd,” Parkinson said from the team hotel in London. “But, I think tonight’s competition shows that there will be plenty more opportunities in the future for me and Canadians to cheer on Brittany.”
The Mississauga native spent three seasons throwing for the Lions, capturing first place two years in a row at the U SPORTS and OUA Championships. The four-time U SPORTS first-team all-Canadian member remains the record holder for shot put and discus at York.
