The highly anticipated U Sports finale is finally here, with collegiate athletes from across Canada heading to Windsor, Ont., to battle for the national title. Over an exciting two months of competition, marked by unprecedented breakthroughs, we witnessed standout university athletes in their pursuit of greatness–a journey that continues at these championships. Starting Thursday, here are the top five storylines to follow at U Sports.
1. MacDonald on track for triple gold
The University of Calgary’s Sienna MacDonald is on track to defend her triple U Sports gold medals, and is heading into the weekend holding the top spots in the 60m hurdles, long jump and pentathlon. In February, MacDonald blazed to 7.97 seconds in the hurdles event, and at the national championships, she hopes to dip under eight seconds again to crush her own program record.
MacDonald’s sub-eight performance established her as a threat on the world stage. Although she missed the qualifying standard for the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, by 0.03 seconds, with only four days left in the qualifying period she falls well within the quota of 48 athletes who are eligible to compete.
2. A 600m showdown
Western University and the University of Saskatchewan’s 600m stars have been in a fierce battle all season, vying for the top spot in the U Sports rankings. Favour Okpali and Avery Pearson, last year’s national champion and runner-up, respectively, have clocked the fastest two times in Canada this year, but have yet to go head-to-head.
Pearson’s strengths lie in middle-distance; last year, she captured U Sports 1,000m gold and anchored her school’s 4x400m and 4x800m teams to national titles. Okpali, in contrast, excels in speed, securing bronze in the 300m. It’s not only a matter of who will take the title–it’s whether one (or both) will dip under Aurora Rynda’s national record of 1:27.05. As of now, Pearson’s 1:27.34 and Okpali’s 1:27.35 mark the second and third-fastest performances in Canadian history.
3. Will Davies make it three in a row?
The University of Guelph’s Max Davies has a solid track record at U Sports Championships, holding back-to-back 1,500m titles and championship records in both the 1,000m and 1,500m. This season, the middle-distance specialist has once again gapped the field in the rankings for both events, improved his mile personal best from 3:59.24 to 3:57.26 and broken his own school record twice. Another 1,500m victory for Davies will make him the first man in history to hold three U Sports (or CIS) titles in the event.
4. Jonathan Podbielski’s iconic quadruple
Perfecting the iconic middle-distance triple at the CanWest championships wasn’t enough for Regina Cougars athlete Jonathan Podbielski. At this weekend’s U Sports championships, the third-year athlete is set to take on the mid-D quadruple–the 1,000m, 1,500m, 3,000m and 4 x 800m relay–a total of 6.3 km of racing. Podbielski is the reigning U Sports 1,000m silver medallist and 1,500m bronze medallist. Last year, he also anchored the Cougars team to silver in the 4 x 800m relay. This season, Podbielski holds a top-four spot on the national leaderboard in all three individual events, and has his eyes on at least one gold medal.
5. Can West snag the Canadian record?
Western University’s jumping phenom Kenneth West has been on a rampage this season, shattering the OUA record and the Mustang’s long-jump program record–twice–in just a few weeks. The 23-year-old leapt to a near 10-cm personal best of 7.99m, marking the third-best jump in Canadian history; his performance falls just six centimetres shy of Olympic Champion Damian Warner‘s 8.05m national record.
West leads the U Sports rankings in both the long and triple jump by a commanding margin, posing a serious threat to the 15-year-old championship record of 7.88m.
How to watch
The final schedule for the competition is available here. Live streams for the event will be available on CBC Gem (online or in-app), CBCSports.ca, or YouTube.
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CRM would like to thank Under Armour for their continued support of our 2025 U Sports T&F coverage.
