Reed and Forrester punch tickets to Beijing

WINDSOR, Ont.—World championship silver medallist Gary Reed wanted to leave nothing to chance, while Adam Kunkel needed everything working in his favour.
In the end, Reed secured his ticket to Beijing yesterday at the Canadian track and field championships, while Kunkel wasn’t so lucky.

Reed, from Kamloops, B.C., ran to victory in the men’s 800 metres in a time of one minute 45.61 seconds to officially earn his spot on Canada’s Olympic team, which was to be named today.
“Before the weekend started, I wasn’t taking anything for granted,” said Reed, who needed only to finish top-four to be Beijing-bound. “I’m thrilled, this is going to be my second Olympics and I’m going back with a whole different mindset this time. . . just more experienced. Just a little more understanding of the sport, a little more understanding of what I need to do when I get there.”
Achraf Tadili of Montreal, who also only needed a top-four finish, was second in 1:46.25, putting two men’s 800-metre runners into the Beijing Olympics.
Kunkel, who won gold at the Pan American Games last summer, captured the men’s 400 hurdles title in 50.11, but battling through blustery winds down the backstretch failed to run the qualifying time he needed of 49.50.
“I would rather have put things out of reach and out of question, but it’s not the first time that I’ve been kind of against the wall,” Kunkel said.
Kunkel planned to appeal to Athletics Canada last night based on his late start to the season. He tore his hamstring and an abdominal muscle in the final of last summer’s world championships in Osaka, Japan.
“I feel like it’s more a problem with having to race pretty early with such an early cutoff date,” Kunkel said. “If I could get a little bit more time I feel like everything will come around, so I’ll try not to be discouraged by tonight and go forward, and do my best to get onto that team.”
Canadian head coach Les Gramantik estimated 30 athletes will make the trip to Beijing, but admitted there will be some disappointed athletes left home.
“We would like to find all avenues to put everybody that’s capable of competing in Beijing on the team,’’ he said. “However, sometimes there are written criteria that cannot be changed, so the heartbreaks come from a small group that dreamed about Olympics all their lives and all of a sudden find that two hundredths of a second or five centimetres will prevent them to do that.”
Other athletes earning trips to China yesterday were Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, B.C., who won the men’s shot put of 19.88 metres, Jim Steacy of Lethbridge, Alta., who threw 78.52 metres to win the hammer throw, Nicole Forrester of Aurora, Ont., who cleared 1.95 metres to win the women’s high jump, and Jared Connaughton of Charlottetown and Brian Barnett of Edmonton who finished 1-2 in the men’s 200 metres.
Canada will have four throwers in Beijing for the first time in recent memory in Armstrong, Steacy, Scott Russell (javelin) and Sultana Frizell (women’s hammer throw).
The 31-year-old Forrester will make her Olympic debut after narrowly missing out making the team in 2000 for Sydney and 2004 in Athens.
Several athletes may be named to the team in the “rising star” category, including Adrienne Power of Halifax, who won the women’s 200 metres in 23 seconds.
Other winners Sunday included Tabia Charles of Pickering, Ont., who won the triple jump with a leap of 13.92 metres. Charles had already qualified for Beijing in the long jump Saturday.
Yvonne Mensah of Surrey, B.C., won the women’s 400 hurdles in 57.64, while Rebecca Johnstone of Bowen Island, B.C., took the women’s 800 in 2:03.99. Veteran middle-distance runner Diane Cummins of Victoria was second in 2:04.61, but won’t be going to Beijing after missing the qualifying standard.