Canada's women's 4x100m relay team back in the Olympics with something to prove
CBC
Hands on her head, Crystal Emmanuel looked skyward, waiting for the confirmation.
When she saw that Canada's women's 4x100 metre relay team had finished second in their race at World Athletics Relays and secured a spot in these Olympic Games in Paris, Emmanuel screamed.
The 32-year-old veteran anchor hugged Audrey Leduc, the up-and-coming sprinter who ran a speedy 10.18-second split before passing the baton to Emmanuel and cheering her on. Sade McCreath and Marie-Éloïse Leclair also ran for Canada in that race this past May in the Bahamas.
It was the past, present and future bringing Canada back to the women's 4x100 metre relay at the Olympics for the first time since Rio in 2016. Emmanuel will compete at her fourth Olympics and 25-year-old Leduc will be at her first, as will McCreath and Leclair.
"Coming out here and seeing these ladies deliver the same way we can always deliver," Emmanuel told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux after the race. "Qualifying this team and letting Canada know that we have a women's 4x100 team going to the Olympics."
WATCH | Canada's 4x100 women's relay team qualifies for the Olympics:
For the last decade, much of the chatter around Canada's sprinters has been about the men, led by Andre De Grasse, who owns six Olympic medals coming into these Games.
But Canada has female sprinting talent too, something the members of this team want the world to know.
"It's so incredibly important because of course the men have done a great job individually and as a relay team, but we have talented women as well," McCreath, the 28-year-old sprinter from Ajax, Ont., told CBC Sports in July.
"And it's a shame that we haven't been able to showcase that."
McCreath pointed to Leduc, who broke Canadian records in both the 100 metres (10.96 seconds) and 200 metres (22.36 seconds) this year, as proof of that. Leduc is set to compete in both distances in Paris, and it feels like she's getting started.
The 100-metre record Leduc smashed in April hadn't been touched for more than three decades, having been set by the late Angela Bailey in 1987.
She came into the national team program around the same time as McCreath, and the two have been roommates at every camp and event.
"She's quiet, keeps her head down and just works," McCreath said about Leduc.
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