Ottawa track and field stars throwing it all on the line in Newfoundland – OttawaSportsPages.ca

A huge team of 48 Ottawa athletes is competing at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. The Ottawa Sports Pages will be sending out a free daily email newsletter with recaps, previews and profiles throughout the Aug. 9-24 national youth multi-sport event.

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By Tyler Reis-Sanford

Just two weeks after their hometown Canadian Track and Field Championships at Terry Fox Athletic Facility, a trio of Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club throwers are ready for another national competition.

This time, Jessica Gyamfi, Connor Fraser and Liam Davis will be suiting up for Team Ontario at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland.

It will be Gyamfi’s second multi-sport event of the season, having represented the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees at the late-July FISU World University Games in Germany.

The uOttawa medicine and health student got stuck with several Canadian athletes in Germany for an extra two days because of a missed flight and was still readjusting to the time change during nationals. Gyamfi said travel is something they try their best to manage, even when it takes a toll.

“For us in Ottawa, because everything always seems to be in southwestern Ontario, it’s a lot of travelling, so we’re used to it,” Gyamfi said of out-of-town high-level meets. “It’s a lot of back-to-back buses for 6-8 hours at a time. I love it, but all the travelling does some things to the body after a time.”

Competing in the senior division, Gyamfi placed fourth in discus and fifth in shot put at the nationals. Although she felt as though she could have done better, Gyamfi said she’s happy with the results and her growth considering that she’s only been throwing competitively for a little over two years.

“I was kind of missing the positions I needed to hit in the circle, I was still trying to go for it in the end, but I got out of centre there,” recounted Gyamfi. “I have to remember to give myself a bit of a break.”

Gyamfi’s preferred event is the discus, but since she’s only scheduled to compete in shot put at the Canada Summer Games, she said that she would take the time between to focus on her shot put form.

“I’m hoping I can finish the summer with a big throw,” signalled Gyamfi. “And also enjoy Newfoundland, because I’ve never been there before.”

Also making his first trip out to Newfoundland is fellow Ottawa Lion Connor Fraser, who enjoyed another successful run at the Canada Summer Games, placing fifth in shot put, and taking home his second consecutive silver medal in discus.

“It’s great to be on the home track in front of friends and family,” reflected Fraser. “And I got to stay at home and sleep in my own bed after.”

Similar to Gyamfi, Fraser is a comparably undersized thrower, and prefers discus to other events because it allows for athletes to substitute raw strength and power with speed and technique. Fraser said the ideal body weight for a senior men’s thrower is somewhere between 240 and 270 pounds, and that some guys can top out over 300 pounds.

At 200 pounds, with the ability to squat more than twice his body weight for reps, Fraser isn’t too phased by his competition though.

“It’s such an individual sport though, you’re so focused on yourself, you don’t really think about the other competitors too much,” explained Fraser. “If you are, you’re probably not in the right headspace to compete.”

Ironically, Fraser said that sometimes the best thing for his competitive mindset is to throw poorly, something he finds he does at the start of practically every season. Fraser has also been dealing with a back injury, a minor issue he said started bothering him when he previously played hockey up to the U16 ‘AAA’ level. That injury flares up occasionally and although it won’t stop him from competing, Fraser said that it’s kept him away from weight training and focused on spending time throwing.

“I didn’t quite hit what I think I could’ve hit at nationals,” highlighted Fraser. “The plan is to throw a little bit farther in Newfoundland.”

Fraser got into throwing during high school at Immaculata, and in 2022 was approached by Tim Nedow, a coach and youth program director with the Ottawa Lions.

He’s now in his fourth season being coached by Nedow, who competed at the Tokyo and Rio Olympics, was the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games silver medallist and the Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist.

Nedow now leads a solid group of rising local throwers, which also includes Davis, who placed fourth in shot put at the nationals, outdistancing Fraser by just 19 centimetres.

Davis is just a year and a half into his throwing journey and now competes for the University of Guelph Gryphons as well.

The Opeongo High School grad also competed in the hammer throw at nationals, which was won by reigning Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg by a margin of nearly 10 metres.

Davis will also be throwing for Ontario at the Canada Summer Games, while four more local track and field athletes will also make the trip to Newfoundland.

There will be a pair of CANI Athletics jumpers joining the throwing trio in field events at the Canada Games.

Returning for his second Canada Games, Thomas Sénéchal-Becker will be the undeniable favourite in the men’s high jump. He equalled the top height achieved at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, but lost out on tiebreaker to take silver. He’s since gone on to win the 2023 U Sports title with the Gee-Gees and then won his first senior national men’s title in Ottawa two weeks ago.

Joshua Foster will also enter the Canada Games with high hopes, having earned fifth-place and silver medal performances in the senior men’s long jump at the 2025 and 2024 nationals respectively.

There will also be two local athletes on the track in St. John’s.

After withdrawing from his final high school season at West Carleton due to injury, sprinter Will Batley of CANI Athletics showed he’s back in fine form at the nationals with a U20 men’s 200 metres silver medal and a 100 m bronze.

“It just feels good to know that I’m still up there with everyone, even after coming back from injury. Just to know I’m still there with the best in Canada for my age group feels good,” Batley told the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Adam Beauchemin at the nationals.

The Lions’ Zach Jeggo sped to a gold medal in the men’s U20 400 m hurdles at the nationals, as well as a U20 400 m bronze.

The recent Louis-Riel high school grad will be moving to Burnaby, B.C. later this summer to attend and race for Simon Fraser University.

“It was great to run on home turf one last time,” Jeggo told Beauchemin. “I have Canada Games later on too and I’m jumping on a plane to B.C. after that.”

Ottawa at the Canada Games Daily Newsletter

A huge team of 48 Ottawa athletes is competing at the St. John’s 2025 Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. The Ottawa Sports Pages will be sending out a free daily email newsletter with recaps, previews and profiles throughout the Aug. 9-24 national youth multi-sport event.

Notice: JavaScript is required for this content.

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