Fredonia’s Brown To Compete At Canadian Olympic Trials

That will come tonight, and she won’t be running for the Seminoles.

Instead, the 2019 Fredonia High School graduate will be running for a chance to represent Canada in Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Brown is currently seeded at No. 8 among Canadian runners competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Bell Track & Field Trials at the Sports Complex of Claude-Robillard.

“Right now I’m just really focusing on just competing, which sounds silly,” Brown said Wednesday about tonight’s race. “You think because you go out to race, you’re racing, but just making moves and being proactive and really just being competitive throughout the entire race is the most important thing for me. Something I’ve talked about with all the coaches I’ve had is that if you actually go out there and compete the entire time, the times will come. I’d like to break 10 minutes, that’s been a goal of mine for a while, so ideally I will go out there and give it a shot at going under 10 minutes and place-wise I would love to be top five.”

While Brown was born in Fredonia, on her father’s side she has obtained Canadian citizenship and is a dual-citizen with the United States of America. This gives Brown the unique opportunity to vie for a spot at the Olympics with either country and her collegiate times have qualified her for the Canadian trials.

Emily Brown would need to shave nearly a minute off her personal best tonight to qualify for the Olympics.
Submitted photo

“I’m Canadian-American, my dad’s side of the family is Canadian,” Brown stated.

“… I was born and raised in Fredonia so I grew up in the U.S., but my dad and my dad’s whole side of the family is Canadian so they all live in British Columbia. I grew up every year going up to visit family in Vancouver and British Columbia in general. Then also we live pretty close to Ontario so we would go up and check it out, so it was definitely a big part of my childhood.”

Running for the Seminoles, Brown switched up her approach training this season with the goal to peak this week at the trials. That included tailoring her meet schedule to events that best suited the steeplechase and running sooner than she might usually.

“I didn’t really know about these kinds of races until this year,” Brown stated about competing at the Canadian Olympic trials. “A big part of the reason I am able to do these postseason races is because I took a redshirt season this outdoor season. … I was able to do a lot of these postseason races and tailor my training a little bit more to peak around this time of year instead of the normal ACC season which is nice.

While the long-term goal for Brown is to eventually make the national team, she will need to run the race of her life to earn a spot in Paris.

“When I came to FSU, I talked a bit with my coach in terms of what I wanted to do in pursuing Athletics Canada or USATF,” Brown stated. “We decided that there is probably a better opportunity to make a national team on the Canadian side and that’s definitely my long-term goal.”

Just winning the race would not be good enough for Brown. All runners around the world looking to qualify for a spot in Paris must reach the Olympic standard time of 9:23 flat. Currently, Brown runs the time of 10:18.22, so she will need to cut nearly a minute off of her time.

As of now, only one Canadian in today’s field has run a time that would qualify for Paris and that is West Virginia University’s Ceili McCabe at 9:20.58, which also stands as the national record.

The 22-year-old McCabe is the same age as Brown, but the second-seeded Regan Yee is 28 and last represented Canada in the event at the previous Olympics in Tokyo. Yee comes in at the time of 9:24.82 and will have to run a personal best to get back to the Olympics for Canada.

“I talked about it when I was with my coach at Pitt, but it was never a decision we immediately had to make,” Brown said about her long-term goals. “This year, I sat down with my coach at Florida State and we kind of looked at what it takes to make the U.S. trials and the Canadian trials, and more so what it takes to make the national team. They’re both really competitive, both countries have great representatives for world athletics. It’s a better shot for me to make a team in the future if I went the Canadian route and that’s something I’m hoping to do one day; it’s my dream.”

Brown recognizes that qualifying for Paris is a long shot, but she is still proud of the opportunity to compete with the best athletes in Canada after running with some of the best around the world in the NCAA.

“It’s just a final, a timed final,” Brown said about tonight’s race. “I think it’s just going to be one heat, timed final. So that’s kind of nice, one race: make it or break it. You have to be a top-three finisher and you have to be in the world pool.”

While 2024 may not be the Games for Brown, the favorite in the world is Winfred Yavi of Bahrain who ran a time of 8:54.29 at the World Championships last year and a personal-best time of 8:50.66 in the 2023 Diamond League Final at the Prefontaine Classic. Then, this year, Peruth Chemutai of Uganda has run the fastest time at 8:55.09.

The top American is Valerie Constien. Her fastest time this year is 9:14.29.