BATON ROUGE – Senior All-American Chanice Chase became the latest LSU Track & Field athlete to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games when she won the bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles on Friday afternoon at the Canadian Championships & Rio Selection Trials being held in Edmonton, Alberta, this weekend.
After cruising into the final by winning her semifinal heat on Thursday with a time of 56.41 seconds, Chase earned her spot on Canada’s Olympic Team with a third-place finish in Friday’s final when she clocked 56.06 for third place behind gold medalist Noelle Montcalm (55.83) and silver medalist Sage Watson (55.88).
Chase finished comfortably in third ahead of Sarah Wells (56.45) in fourth place, while Jennifer Cotton (57.30), Taysia Radoslav (57.63), Kelsey Balkwill (58.07) and Fawn Dorr (1:01.85) rounded out the finalists.
The Toronto native entered the Canadian Championships already achieving the Olympic qualifying standard in the event with her personal-best run of 54.94 in a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships to arrive in Edmonton as the No. 16-ranked hurdler worldwide for the 2016 season. Her performance in Friday’s final ensured her Road To Rio would continue with her first Olympics appearance.
My first Olympic team! Blessed🙏🏽 #Rio2016 #Team🇨🇦
— Chanice Chase (@ChaniceChase_) July 9, 2016
Eight different athletes with LSU ties representing four countries from across the globe are now on their way to Rio de Janeiro this summer as Chase followed the likes of Zimbabwe’s Gabriel Mvumvure (100 meters), Trinidad & Tobago’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste (100 meters, 4×100 relay) and Richard Thompson (100 meters, 4×100 relay) and Jamaica’s Fitzroy Dunkley (400 meters, 4×400 relay), Damar Forbes (long jump), Natoya Goule (800 meters) and Nickiesha Wilson (100 hurdles) on the Road To Rio.
Chase’s work at the Canadian Championships & Rio Selection Trials is not done as she will also run the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday while looking to earn an Olympic berth in both hurdle events this weekend.
While Chase qualified for Canada’s Olympic Team on Friday afternoon, former Lady Tiger All-American Jasmin Stowers came up one hurdle short of qualifying for her first U.S. Olympic Team when she crashed over the 10th and final hurdle in the final of the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Stowers advanced to her first U.S. Olympic Trials final when she ran 12.91 for second place in the second semifinal heat earlier in the day. She found herself running second over the eighth and ninth hurdles in the final with only the Top 3 finishers securing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Stowers fell to the track after hitting the final hurdle and finished eighth overall.
Stowers wasn’t the only former Lady Tiger to line up in the women’s 100-meter hurdles on Friday at the U.S. Olympic Trials as past All-SEC performer Tenaya Jones placed 17th with a time of 13.35 (-0.5) in the semifinal.
Also competing in one of Friday’s finals at Hayward Field was former Tiger SEC Champion and All-American Rodney Brown, who was the 10th-place finisher in the men’s discus throw with a mark of 187 feet, 3 inches for his second throw of the qualifying round.
Two other former LSU standouts continued their Road To Rio in the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Trials when 2012 NCAA Champion and 2015 World Championships Bronze Medalist Cassandra Tate and former Tiger All-American Quincy Downing both ran the fifth-fastest times of the day in the men’s and women’s semifinals. Downing placed third in the first men’s semifinal with his time of 49.45, while Tate crossed the finish line fourth in the second women’s semifinal with her time of 55.49 on the afternoon.
Junior Jordan Moore, the 2016 SEC Outdoor Champion, and former Tiger standout Ryan Fontenot both advanced to the semifinal round of the men’s 110-meter hurdles on time when Fontenot clocked the eighth-best time of the day at 13.67 (-1.2) and Moore followed with the 12th-fastest time of the prelims at 13.72 (-1.2). 2015 All-American Joshua Thompson placed 21st overall in qualifying with his time of 13.82 (-1.6).
In other action, Lady Tiger junior Jada Martin finished in 24th place with a wind-aided time of 23.38 (+2.2) and former national champion Kimberlyn Duncan finished in 35th place with a time of 23.75 (-0.2) in the qualifying round of the women’s 200-meter dash.
LSU’s Entries at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials
Note: Times are Central and subject to change due to weather and athlete advancement.
Saturday, July 9
TV Coverage: NBC (7 p.m. CT)
6:25 p.m. – Men’s 110 Hurdles Semifinals (Jordan Moore, Ryan Fontenot)
7:52 p.m. – Men’s 110 Hurdles Final (Jordan Moore, Ryan Fontenot)
Sunday, July 10
TV Coverage: NBC (6 p.m. CT)
6:03 p.m. – Women’s 400 Hurdles Final (Cassandra Tate)
6:51 p.m. – Men’s 400 Hurdles Final (Quincy Downing)