Jonathan Podbielski and Chloe Richardson named Under Armour U Sports Athletes of the Week

Canadian Running and Under Armour have teamed up for the 2024 Canadian U Sports indoor track and field season to highlight some of the top homegrown talents across the country. Each week, leading up to the 2024 U Sports Indoor Track and Field Championships in Winnipeg next month, Canadian Running will select one male and female track and field athlete as the Under Armour Athlete of the Week.

The award will go to a male and female U Sports track and field athlete who achieved a standout performance, broke a school record or crushed a personal best. These athletes will be featured on Canadian Running and awarded an Under Armour prize pack featuring the new UA Infinite Elite training shoe. This week we highlight another two sensational athletes who shattered school records: Chloe Richardson of Dalhousie University and middle-distance star Jonathan Podbielski of the University of Regina, for their performances between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25.

Female Athlete of the Week: Chloe Richardson–women’s 600m

At the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference championships, Richardson racked up three gold medals in the women’s 600m, 1,000m, and the 4x800m relay to help the Dalhousie women’s track and field team win their 34th consecutive conference title, a U Sports record across all Canadian university sports.

Besides winning three golds, Richardson also did it in style by setting two AUS conference records. On the first day of the championships, she won the women’s 1,000m in an AUS record time of 2:52.32 to secure gold, and on Day 2, she followed up her win with a new personal best in the women’s 600m, winning gold by two and a half seconds in 1:33.14. To cap it all off, Richardson also anchored the Dalhousie women’s 4x800m relay team to a new AUS record of 9:17.48.

Richardson was ecstatic about her record-setting weekend, which has earned her a spot at the Canadian U Sports Track and Field Championships in Winnipeg, in two weeks’ time. “I am looking forward to running on a banked track at U Sports and hopefully running some PBs there,” says Richardson. “I think our 4x800m relay team has a lot of potential to challenge for a podium spot. I am excited to see what our team can do.”

The fourth-year law student has had a unique journey to this point in her university career. Richardson, who is a standout on the Dalhousie women’s soccer team as a forward, started her track and field career as a sprinter and recently made the switch to running middle-distance events. Next fall, Richardson plans to fully embrace the transition to distance running as she will shift her focus to her first cross-country season with Dalhousie.

Male Athlete of the Week: Jonathan Podbielski–men’s 1,500m

The University of Regina Cougars won a total of nine medals at the CanWest conference championships last weekend in Edmonton, and Podbielski won four of them. The second-year middle-distance track star won gold in the 1,500m and the 1,000m, breaking his own school record in the 1,500m (3:47.45) and narrowly missing the CanWest conference record of 3:47:43 by two one-hundredths of a second. He also won a silver and bronze medal in the relay events. 

Despite narrowly missing the record, Podbielski wasn’t disheartened, as he helped one of his teammates, Brayden Mytopher, qualify for U Sports. “It’s his last year competing, and he’s been sidelined for most of the indoor season with an injury, so when I saw he crossed the line in second to qualify, that was all that mattered to me,” says Podbielski.

Podbielski faces a full plate at the 2024 U Sports Track and Field Championships on March 7-9, competing in the 1,500m, 1,000m, and 4x800m relay with the Regina Cougars. “I’d be lying if I said I am going for anything less than the win in all my races,” says Podbielski. “Our men’s 4x800m team is ranked #1 in the country heading in; I know nothing would make my coach Steve Davis happier than a win in the most exciting relay at U Sports.”

After the indoor season comes to an end, Podbielski says he plans on turning his attention to recovery, both physical and academic. The reigning U20 800m and 1,500m national champion doesn’t intend to take much time off training before the outdoor season and aims to make an impact at the Bell Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal in June.

Chloe Turner and Aaron Thompson named Under Armour U Sports Athletes of the Week

If you would like to nominate a Canadian U Sports athlete for Under Armour Athlete of the Week, send @canadianrunning a message on Instagram or email marley@runningmagazine.ca.