It was June 2024 and Gabriela Debues-Stafford had arrived in Burnaby, BC, for the Harry Jerome Track Classic. Their hopes of running the 1,500 meters at the Paris Olympic Games that summer were “dead in the water” but remained alive in the 5,000.
Approximately one hour before the 5,000 female, debues-Stafford had a collapse and felt that he could not take the starting line at the Swangard Stadium. After talking to her husband and the new coach Rowan Debues, a former assistant of the Cross Country and Athletics team at the University of Victoria, she decided to compete.
At the end of the race, Debues-Stafford followed Alma Cortez for almost 30 meters, but delivered a final “crazy” round, recalled debues, surpassing his Mexican opponent and winning a second in 15 minutes 17.48 seconds.
“She knew if she wanted an opportunity in [qualifying for Paris] She had to go to 5: 20 and win due to the bonus points to win, “he recalled in a recent interview with CBC Sports as Awards-Stafford prepared for the Canadian athletics championships this week in Ottawa.
But when leaving two married seasons with injuries, Toronto’s native could not qualify for his second Olympic Games and first since 2021 in Tokyo for a world classification point, the equivalent of 0.3 seconds in everything [her best] Three 5,000m [qualifying races].
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Six days later, he ran 4: 19.38 for the ninth place in 1,500 at Montreal Classic and was prepared to leave competitive careers. Debues-Stafford had registered 4: 23.48 five weeks before, far from his Canadian record 3: 56.12 that has been maintained since 2019.
“I felt confused, broken and fell in love with sport. I wasn’t enjoying it,” he recalled. “It’s not an easy sport, even when you’re in shape and healthy. It was very close [retiring] Last June. “
“At the moment he feels as if you were yielding when it is reality, I do not think he had the physical condition to be a factor in the type of races he needed to run and in the times he needed to run to be at the level he wanted to be.”
Debues-Stafford felt that he owed herself to finish the season and ended with a positive note when winning 5,000 on June 27 in the National Championship in Montreal.
“It was very difficult when I didn’t feel I had any confidence. I learned my way,” he told CBC Sports. “[I figured] If I finished the season and did it well, that [gave me] The potential to continue [receive funding from Nike] For another year and an opportunity to see if next year it can be better. “
In July or August, Debues-Stafford established a goal to compete with 1,500 and 5,000 for the first time in an important championship, and former Bowerman Track Club member is on the way to doing it in the World Athletics Championship from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo.
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Near the 4 -minute barrier in 1,500 m
Debues-Stafford, who took the fifth place in the 1,500 Olympic final of 2021, first complied with the automatic entrance standard at 5,000 for worlds, which runs 14: 47.83 in his first race in the distance this season on June 7 in France. She described for 1,500 three weeks ago, going 4: 01.19 at the Morton Games in Dublin.
“It has been a surprise to be so close to my old form,” said Debues-Stafford. “It is tempting to compare myself with the Gabriela 2019 and 2021, but I have to maintain the perspective of where I come and I do not get too greedy.”
Having achieved Standard, Debues-Stafford assured his place in Worlds with Thursday’s victory at 5,000. She registered 15: 17.32 to defeat Regan Yee for six seconds (15: 23.22) in the athletic installation of Terry Fox. Chloe Thomas was third in 15: 25.47. On Saturday, Debues-Stafford also reserved its place in the final of 1,500 women in Ottawa on Sunday at 11:56 am et. A victory would allow him to double at 1,500 and 5,000 in the World Championship.
He described the third place of 12 runners, finishing second in the first of two heats in four minutes 19.91 seconds, behind Grace Fetherstonhaugh (4: 17.77).
The younger sister of Debues-Stafford, Lucia Stafford, also ran 4: 19.91 to win the second heat.
The possibilities of Debues-Stafford to be named for the Canadian team in the 1,500 would be good, even without prevailing on Sunday, since it is the best classified female athlete in Canada in the distance to distance at the age of 31. Simone Plourde (34), Stafford (36) and Kate Current (40). Fifty -six of the event for worlds will be selected, and Athletics Canada can send a maximum of three women from the event to Tokyo.
Debues Stills marvels at his wife’s performance at the Harry Jerome Track Classic, wondering if debues-Stafford had found more races and an extra week left over before the qualification window was closed if it had found the additional classification points to ensure a place for Paris.
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He was sure that his wife, the runner Gabriela-Debues Stafford, had more to give after a tough 2024 campaign.
The fact that she empties [the tank] In a situation without savings and retired [the win]. She is psychologically hard, “he said.” When I saw her [comeback]I knew the fight was there. “
Looking back, Debues-Stafford added: “I think Harry Jerome was the career that I realized that I still have to compete, want to run, want to put a lot of pain to try to win. It was a slow recovery of confidence that could still be good.”
Surviving the 2024 summer racing season, said the 29 -year -old woman, gave her the opportunity to save her career.
“When I didn’t do the [Paris] Olympic games, I was upset about that. He showed me that he still loved him, “said Debues-Stafford, who has interior/exterior Canadian brands at 1,500, miles and 5,000, along with the 3,000 interiors.
He returned to training last fall in the West Hub of Athletics Canada in Victoria, where he lived, working with Mark Rowland, A recognized medium distance coach in Oregon the previous two decades.
Debues-Stafford cut its 2022 season due to a stress reaction in its sacrum, a single bone consisting of five separate vertebrae located at the bottom of the spine, connecting it to the pelvis.
‘Mechanics and malfunction patterns’
A magnetic resonance diagnosed it simultaneously with pubis osteitis, an inflammatory condition of the joint between the left and right pelvic bone.
“Mark is very good with the form and drills,” said Debues-Stafford about Rowland, who left AC last November to become head of resistance at the University of Edinburgh in his native United Kingdom. In March, the Canadian corridor joined him and returned to Scotland, where he lived from 2019 to 2020.
“With Pubis and Sacrum osteitis, I got into bad mechanics and patterns,” said Debues-Stafford. “I couldn’t make their way to work hard as I had been able to.”
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Debues-Stafford added that Rowland has a great experience working with major athletes who return from an injury that need to learn good habits, such as opening their passage,
“We did some exercises and obstacles,” he said. “We continue that process when we arrived in Edinburgh, and led to speed sessions. The difference in my form from fall versus now is night and day.
“If you can work at your maximum speed, then your step becomes more efficient to all speeds.
There has been hypo on the road, including an injury to the right Achilles tendon that limited to then-Stafford to less than 20 kilometers per week in training extends early in its recovery. He also lost a lot of weight due to food poisoning or a bacterial infection in South Africa that stopped running for a week.
These days, Debues-Stafford is back averaging about 100 km per week, feeling close to its previous form and excited by the worlds.
“Cruzados Fingers. I still need to be appointed for him [Canadian] Team, but I feel good with my probabilities, “said Debues-Stafford, who plans to train at altitude after nationals in the Pyrenees mountains in southwest Europe.” I feel much more connected to my body, feeling much more fluid on the track.
“1,500 on women’s side is very deep [than at the 2021 Olympics]. I imagine my chances of entering the [world] semifinals. If I can enter the final in the 1,500, I feel that this would be the biggest blow in history. “
You must believe that his wife enters this week’s competition with pressure and a goal on his back.
“All other women could say: ‘Well, I’m not the Canadian record holder,” he said. “They think of themselves as the helpless, although it was Gabriela who missed being in the [Olympic] team last year.
“I risk talking about her, but I think this year has shown that she is no longer thinking about retirement. Given where we left last year and how bad it was January this year with her health, we have still had a pretty good season.
“We are quite optimistic about 2026 and what we can achieve,” you continued, “but we want to maximize Tokyo first.”
