Lucia Stafford

Lucia Stafford (born August 18, 1998) is a Canadian athlete specializing in middle-distance running.[1] She is the 2017 Pan American U20 champion in the women's 1500 metres, and competed for Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Stafford is the North American indoor record holder for the 1000 metres.[2]

Lucia Stafford
Personal information
Born (1998-08-18) August 18, 1998
London, Ontario, Canada
Height170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
CountryCanada
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Middle-distance running
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)
Medal record
Women's track and field
Representing  Canada
Pan American U20 Championships
Gold medal – first place2017 Trujillo1500 m

Early life

Stafford was born in London, Ontario and grew up in Toronto.[3] Her father James Stafford was a former competitive runner and represented Canada at four World Cross Country Championships. She and her older sister Gabriela DeBues-Stafford initially trained in competitive Irish dancing, but DeBues-Stafford switched to running, subsequently joined by Stafford to spend more time with her father and sister. Both sisters were diagnosed with Graves' disease as teenagers, with Stafford's case proving a considerable hindrance in her early career.[3]

Career

In 2017, Stafford won gold at the 2017 Pan American U20 Athletics Championships in the women's 1500 metres event.[1] She was accepted to the University of Toronto to study civil engineering, and while there, competed for the Varsity Blues.[4] At the 2019 Summer Universiade, Stafford finished in fifth in the 4x400 relay and the 1500 m.[1]

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of much of the 2020 athletic season and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo being delayed by a full year. For Stafford, this afforded her time to recover from a thyroid procedure that she credited with allowing her to train more consistently.[4] In July 2021, Stafford was named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team in the women's 1500 m event, alongside her sister.[5][6] She qualified to the semi-final, but finished thirteenth overall there, 0.43 seconds behind Spain's Marta Pérez, and missed advancing to the final. Her time of 4:02.12 was a new personal best.[7]

In advance of the 2022 season, Stafford moved to train at the Bowerman Track Club in Portland, joining her sister Gabriela.[8] However, they would both depart the club early in the following year, citing controversy around another club member, Shelby Houlihan.[9] Stafford made her World Indoor debut at the 2022 edition in Belgrade, finishing eighth in the 1500 m.[10] She went on to make her World Athletics Championships debut as well, but came thirty-fourth in the heats of the 4:09.67 and did not advance to the semi-finals. She was also named to Canada's team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but her preparations were hindered by contracting COVID-19. Despite this, she qualified to the 1500 m final and finished eleventh, albeit well off her personal best. Stafford reflected that "all you can ask for yourself is to do your best. I know it's very far from where I want to be, but I always count on myself to do my best."[11]

Following her departure from the Bowerman Club, Stafford resumed training in Toronto with longtime coach Terry Radchenko.[12] On January 28, 2023, Stafford broke the North American indoor record in the 1000 metres with a time of 2:33.75 at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston.[2] She moved to ninth on the world indoor all-time list.[13] After narrowly missing the World Athletics Championship qualifying standard for the 1500 m at the 2023 Millrose Games, she cleared it with a personel best 4:02.03 at the USATF LA Grand Prix on May 27.[14] Stafford finished 28th in the heats of the 1500 m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, running a 4:05.21.[15] She later described the heat as "probably the most physical race I've been in. When you're competing with the best in the world, there's no room for imperfection."[16]

Personal life

The daughter of James Stafford and Maria Luisa Gardner, Stafford has, in addition to her sister Gabriela, a younger brother Nicholas and two younger step-sisters, Gabrielle and Talia. She has a step-mother, Leanne Shafir.[17] Her mother passed away due to leukemia when Lucia was 10.[3] Both Gabriela and Lucia are trilingual, speaking English, French and Spanish.[18]

In the fall of 2022, Stafford enrolled in the singer/songwriter program at Seneca College.[12]

Competition record
Representing  Canada
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTime
2016 World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 13th (h) 1500 m 4:22.38
2017 Pan American U20 Championships Trujillo, Peru 1st 1500 m 4:21.70
2019 Summer Universiade Naples, Italy 5th 1500 m 4:12.70
5th 4 x 400 m 3:34.62
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 13th (sf) 1500 m 4:02.12
2022 World Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 8th 1500 m 4:06.41
World Championships Eugene, United States 34th (h) 1500 m 4:09.67
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, United Kingdom 11th 1500 m 4:13.83
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 28th (h) 1500 m 4:05.21

References
  1. "Lucia Stafford". www.olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  2. Dickinson, Marley (January 28, 2023). "Lucia Stafford obliterates Canadian 1,000m record in season opener". Canadian Running Magazine. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  3. Scace, Matt (23 July 2021). "How the Stafford sisters turned a wee sibling rivalry into two Olympic track careers". The National Post. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  4. Weisfeld, Oren (1 August 2021). "Lucia Stafford is 'super proud' to be an Olympian — like the 'superheroes' she used to admire". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  5. Nichols, Paula (3 July 2021). "Team Canada to have 57 competitors in athletics at Tokyo 2020". www.olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  6. "57 athletes nominated to Canada's Olympic track & field team". www.cbc.ca/. CBC Sports. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. Harrison, Doug (4 August 2021). "Gabriela DeBues-Stafford to run for Olympic gold medal in 1,500 metres". CBC Sports. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  8. Francis, Anne (19 November 2021). "Lucia Stafford and Andrea Seccafien join Bowerman Track Club". Canadian Running. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  9. Ewing, Lori (12 April 2022). "Canadian runner DeBues-Stafford leaves training centre over Houlihan burrito case". CBC Sports. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  10. Harrison, Doug (March 19, 2022). "Damian Warner wins elusive heptathlon gold in Canadian record effort at indoor worlds". CBC Sports.
  11. "Commonwealth Games – Day 7: Canada's final day at the track sandwiched between two historic moments". Athletics Canada. 7 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  12. Ewing, Lori (2 February 2023). "Lucia Stafford finding success on the track back in Toronto with longtime coach". The Globe & Mail. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  13. "Lucia Stafford Breaks Canadian and North American 1,000m Record at BU". DyeStat. January 29, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  14. Dickinson, Marley (29 May 2023). "Lucia Stafford hits world championship standard at L.A. Grand Prix". Canadian Running. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  15. "Worlds Day 1: Breaking records in Budapest". Athletics Canada. 19 August 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  16. Stafford, Lucia (August 19, 2022). "That's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes 🍪" (Instagram). Archived from the original on September 3, 2023.
  17. "For Gabriela Stafford, her Rio race is dedicated to someone else". The Globe and Mail. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  18. Kelly, Madeleine (23 June 2021). "The best sister in the world". Canadian Running. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
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