Geneviève Lalonde

Biography

Geneviève Lalonde broke the national record twice at Tokyo 2020 en route to a Canadian best-ever 11th-place finish in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. She first ran 9:22.64 in the first round heats before lowering the mark to 9:22.40 in the final. 

Lalonde had previously broken the Canadian record in the 3000m steeplechase on May 19, 2019, running 9:29:82 at the Diamond League meet in Shanghai. Lalonde’s breakout season had come in 2015 when she won steeplechase bronze at the Pan Am Games in Toronto and made her World Athletics Championships debut in Beijing. The following year, she made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, becoming the first Canadian woman to advance to an Olympic steeplechase final. She also reached the steeplechase final at the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

In April 2018, Lalonde finished seventh in the steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. About a year later, she lowered the national record to 9:29.82 at a Diamond League meet in Shanghai. Later in 2019 she won steeplechase gold at the Pan Am Games in Lima and was a finalist once again at the World Athletics Championships.

As a junior, Lalonde finished sixth at the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in her hometown of Moncton. She went on to win bronze at the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie.

A Little More About Geneviève

Getting into the Sport: Began running cross-country at age 7 but didn’t begin training seriously until her early teens… Got started when her friend’s father created a running team… Always dreamed of being the best she could be and knew that if she tried hard to beat boys, then maybe as a girl she could achieve her goal of representing Canada… Outside Interests: Graduated from the University of Guelph in 2017 with a Masters of Arts in Geography; did research in the Arctic for her degree while training for Rio 2016… Loves chocolate… Odds and Ends: Nickname: Gen… Likes to watch a “really cheesy chick flick” before competing just to remind herself that no matter what, she is only human… Favourite motto: “Just have fun!”… Considers herself a pet rock collector…