Six UBC Thunderbirds Track and Field alumni will represent the maple leaf in Japan later this month as Athletics Canada announced the Tokyo 2020 athletics team on Saturday.
First time Olympians John Gay (BA '18, MM '19) and Natalia Hawthorn (BKin '17) join returning T-Bird athletes Mike Mason (BHK '10), Liz Gleadle (BKin '13), Evan Dunfee (BKin '14), and Lucas Bruchet (BKin '14) as part of the 57 athlete strong Canadian contingent headed to Tokyo for the Games which officially open July 23.
Graduating from UBC in 2010, Mason is headed to a remarkable fourth Olympic Games having previously competed in men's high jump in Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016.
One of Canada's top high jumpers for more than a decade, Mason took gold at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships. The resident of Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island has two Pan Am silver medals to his credit (2015 Toronto, 2019 Lima) and a Commonwealth Games bronze won in Glasgow in 2014.
Mike Mason (Photo: Claus Andersen/Athletics Canada)
Mason made it to the men's high jump final at the London 2012 games, finishing eighth.
Gleadle is headed to her third Olympic Games having burst onto the scene in London where she became Canada's first woman to qualify for an Olympic javelin final since 1968, finishing 12th.
The Vancouver native also competed in Rio in 2016 where she finished 16th.
Gleadle is the Canadian women's javelin record holder, throwing 64.83 metres in 2015, the same year she won gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.
Dunfee is also off to his second Olympic Games following a fourth place finish in the men's 50 kilometre race walk in 2016. His time from that race stands as the Canadian record.
At the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, the Richmond, B.C. native earned a bronze medal in the 50 kilometre race walk, Canada's first ever medallist in the event.
Evan Dunfee (Photo: Greg Kolz/Canadian Olympic Committee)
He also boasts gold medals in the 20 kilometre distance at both the 2015 Pan Am Games and the 2018 NACAC Championships, both in Toronto.
Dunfee's 50 kilometre race in Tokyo is set for Thursday, August 5.
The Tokyo Games also mark the second Olympic appearance for Bruchet who will compete in the men's 5000 metres. He finished 37th at the same distance in Rio.
Hailing from White Rock, Bruchet had an impressive eighth place finish in the 5000 metre final at the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Bruchet's preliminary race in Tokyo takes place Tuesday, August 3 with the final set for the following day.
Hawthorn makes her Olympic Debut in Tokyo and will compete in the women's 1500 metres.
A native of Bracebridge, Ontario, Hawthorn met Olympic standard with a personal best time of 4:04.20 in Portland, Oregon last month and had also met the minimum standard time in the 5000m in May.
At her final NAIA National Championships with the T-Birds in 2018, Hawthorn anchored the first place women's 4x800 metre relay team while also finishing on the podium in the 800 and 1500 metres.
Preliminary 1500m heats in Tokyo are scheduled for Sunday, August 1.
Gay also makes his Olympic debut in Tokyo having qualified for the men's 3000 metre steeplechase.
Topping the podium in the men's 3000m steeple in his final NAIA National Championships with UBC in 2018, he also finished second in the 5000 metre final.
A product of Kelowna, Gay narrowly missed the bronze at the 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie in the 3000m steeple with a fourth place finish. He followed up with a 32nd place finish at the 2019 IAAF Championships.
The first round of the men's 3000m steeplechase in Tokyo goes Thursday, July 29 with the final set for Monday, August 2.
UBC Track and Field has a long and proud history at the Olympic Games, stretching back to Amsterdam 1928 where Harry Warren became the first Thunderbird to compete.
Across all sports, UBC has amassed a total of 67 Olympic medals.
The Tokyo 2020 Games officially begin July 23 while the Paralympics are set to begin August 24.