Florida State's Emily Brown, pictured, is seeded eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at tonight's Bell Track and Field Championships at the Claude Robillard Sports Complex. Courtesy photo
MONTREAL — Fredonia's Emily Brown recently completed her first season competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Florida State University track and field team, but she has yet to run the biggest race of the year.
That will happen tonight, but she won't be running for the Seminoles.
Instead, Brown, a 2019 Fredonia High School graduate, will be running for a chance to represent Canada at the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024. Brown is currently seeded eighth among Canadian runners competing in the 3,000-metre steeplechase at the Bell Track and Field Championships at Claude Robillard Sports Complex.
“Right now I'm just focused on competing, as silly as that sounds,” Brown said Wednesday about tonight's race. “You'd think I'm racing because I'm out there, but just moving, being aggressive and being competitive the whole race is the most important thing for me. I've talked to every coach I've been with, if you just go out there and compete the whole time, the times will come. I want to go under 10 minutes. That's always been a goal of mine. So ideally, I'd like to go out there and try to go under 10 minutes and finish in the top five.”
Brown was born in Fredonia, but is a dual U.S. citizen through Canadian citizenship on her paternal side, which gives her the unique opportunity to compete for Olympic berths in both countries, and she qualified for the Canadian qualifiers due to her collegiate performance.
Emily Brown needs to shave nearly a minute off tonight's personal best to qualify for the Olympics. Submitted photo
“I'm Canadian-American and my dad's side of the family is Canadian,” Brown said.
“…I was born and raised in Fredonia, so I grew up in the United States. But my dad and my dad's family are all Canadian, so they all live in British Columbia. I grew up visiting my family in Vancouver or British Columbia every year. Also, we lived near Ontario, so I'd go up there and check it out. So it was definitely a big part of my childhood.”
Brown, who runs for the Seminoles, has changed the way he trains this season with the goal of peaking at the trials this week, which has included tailoring his meet schedule to best suit his steeplechase events and running faster than usual.
“I didn't really know much about races like this before this year,” Brown said of competing at the Canadian Olympic Trials, “and a big reason why I was able to get into the postseason races is because I took a redshirt season this outdoor season. … I was able to get a lot of postseason races in and adjust my training a little bit to peak at this time of year instead of the normal ACC season, which is good.”
Brown's long-term goal is to eventually make the national team, but he will need to run the race of his life to qualify for Paris.
“When I came to FSU, I talked a little bit with my coaches about what I wanted to do with Athletics Canada or USA Track and Field,” Brown said, “and I decided that I'd probably have a better chance of making the national team on the Canadian side, so that's definitely my long-term goal.”
For Brown, winning the race isn't enough. Runners from around the world who want to qualify for Paris must run under the Olympic standard time of 9 minutes, 23 seconds. Currently, Brown's time is 10 minutes, 18.22 seconds, so she needs to shave nearly a minute off her time.
So far, the only Canadian competitor today has posted a time that would qualify her for Paris, West Virginia University's Kayli McCabe, who set a national record with a time of 9 minutes 20.58 seconds.
At 22, McCabe is the same age as Brown, but second-seeded Regan Yi is 28 and competed for Canada in the event at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo. Yi competed in a time of 9 minutes 24.82 seconds and will need to beat her personal best to return to the Olympics for Canada.
“I talked about it when I was with the coach in Pittsburgh, but it wasn't something I had to decide right away,” Brown said of her long-term goal. “I sat down with the coach at Florida State this year and looked at what it would take to get to the U.S. Qualifiers and the Canadian Qualifiers, and specifically what it would take to make the national team. They're both very competitive and both countries have great World Athletics representatives. Taking the Canadian route gave me a better chance of making the team in the future, and I hope to make that happen one day. That's my dream.”
Brown knows it will be difficult to qualify for the Paris Games, but is proud to have the opportunity to compete against some of Canada's best athletes after competing against some of the best in the world at the NCAAs.
“It's just a final, a timed final,” Brown said of tonight's race. “I think it's going to be a one-heat timed final. It's kind of a win-or-lose kind of race, which is nice. I've got to finish in the top three and go on to worlds.”
2024 may not be the Olympics for Brown, but the world's favorite is Bahrain's Winfred Yavi, who clocked 8:54.29 at last year's world championships and set a personal best of 8:50.66 at the Prefontaine Classic, the 2023 Diamond League final. And this year, Uganda's Perus Chemutai ran the fastest time with a time of 8:55.09.
Leading the way for the United States was Valerie Constine, whose fastest time this year was 9 minutes 14.29 seconds.
