Devan Wiebe kicked up her heels and ran an all-time best in the 800 metres Sunday at the Harry Jerome Track Classic, putting her within reach of the World Junior Championships next month in Barcelona, Spain.
Wiebe, 18, knocked more than four seconds off her personal best to finish in two minutes, eight seconds and 59 milliseconds. She started the season above the 2:12.00 mark and improved to 2:10.46.
I had a lot of times when my coaches had told me, You can do this, you can do this, but until you actually do it, you dont think its possible, she told the Courier on Monday. I ran the times in practice that should be comparable to running that time in a race.
She came in third, finishing 1.86 seconds behind the first-place finisher from the University of Victoria.
The Lord Byng secondary graduate, who is in her first year of commerce at the University of B.C., also met her goal of besting the athletics federations World Junior Championship standard of 2:09.10, which qualifies her to compete in Barcelona at the international meet set for July 10 to 15.
For Canada to select her, Wiebe must have one of the two fastest times in the country. Her personal best from Sunday makes her the third fastest junior woman at the 800m event. She trails the second-fastest sprinter by 0.07 and the fastest by more than two seconds.
She has never raced against the two faster competitors, who train in Manitoba and Ontario and are a year younger than Wiebe. This is her last year to qualify for the international meet as a junior sprinter.
Making the standard was her goal, but Wiebe had given up on making the cut. Shes now a fraction of a second from earning her way to Barcelona and on Wednesday competes at the Victoria International Track Classic.
Thats the spirit of track, she said. Youre always looking to improve and run faster. I have to focus on the next race. My goal was to run the standard, but I had written off going to Barcelona. Now that Im seven one-hundredths of a second off, I might as well go and try for it. Hopefully Ill have another great race.
Wiebe raced after UBC teammate Maria Bernard met the World Junior Championship standard in the 1500m with a time of 4:21.45, more than six seconds faster than the 4:28.00 required.
I was kind of dragged along in the excitement, said Wiebe, enthusiastic and still energized from the weekend meet.
She said she was exhilarated by her friends success and described the presence of Canadian track and field legends such as Olympian shot-putter Dylan Armstrong, considered a medal favourite at the London Summer Games, and hurdler Perdita Felicien as surreal.
Its really inspiring. I almost didnt feel that nervousI was in awe.
Twitter: @MHStewart
