Congratulations to Kris Kozell and Yannick Le Mouël for winning Athlete of the Month for January, 2023!
On January 22, Kris Kozell, W70-74, racewalked to a new Canadian 1500m indoor record in the very speedy time of 8:50.79 at the Ontario Masters Mini-meet in Toronto. This time broke a record set in 1996 and was also faster than the Canadian 1500m RW outdoor record. Although no WMA records are kept for this distance, according to World Masters Rankings, no 70+ woman has bettered this 1500m RW performance indoors, and only one 70+ woman in the world has bettered it outdoors in the last 10 years. Given that Kris was racing in a group on a 200m banked track, where passing on slanted curves cannot be avoided, her performance was truly outstanding. Kris Kozell resides in Toronto and is coached by Stafford and Lily Whalen.
Photo Credit: Doug Smith
On January 14, Yannick Le Mouël, became the first Canadian 55-59 to successfully launch himself over a 3.90m bar in the pole vault. This performance took place in Sherbrooke, QC and broke a M55-59 record set back in 2005. Not only is this a new indoor record, but it also exceeds the Canadian outdoor PV record. Yannick is currently ranked number one in the world in indoor M55-59 pole vault. Yannick resides in Saint Jean sur Richelieu, QC and is coached by Luc Lafrance.
Photo Credit: Michel Caron
Honorable Mention
In Edmonton, AB on January 22nd, Andrea Diener, from St. Albert, AB, threw 12.38m in the weight throw to break the Canadian W45-49 indoor record. The previous day, she broke the W45-49 record in the shot put with her throw of 10.87m. Currently, these throws would rank her fourth in the world in indoor weight throw and fifth in shot put. Andrea is self-coached this winter.
On January 8th, Natasha Wodak broke a longstanding (1987) W40-44 Canadian road race best in the 8k with her time of 26:20 in the Harrier’s Pioneer race in North Saanich, BC. Natasha resides in North Vancouver and is coached by Trent Stellingwerff.
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