Melissa Bishop-Nriagu takes aim at 800-metre Canadian record in Tokyo

Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, right, races at the Canadian Track and Field Olympic trials in Montreal on June 25, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

Canada’s fastest-ever woman over 800 metres, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, has a good feeling about what’s going to happen at her third Olympic Games.

“I personally think that the Canadian record will be rewritten in Tokyo,” she says.

And yes, Bishop-Nriagu plans to do the rewriting.

The 32-year-old from Eganville, Ont., owns the current national record at 1:57.01. Bishop-Nriagu is one of the most decorated middle distance runners in Canadian history, with a world championship silver medal (2015) and a Pan American Games gold (2015) to her name. Five years ago at the Olympics in Rio, she came fourth, a heartbreaking 13 one-hundredths of a second shy of a bronze medal. In the time since, she’s had her daughter, Corinne — who’s now three — and come back to running.

“This is my third Games, and I am not blind to the fact that I am 32 and a rather experienced athlete, but I think that’s going to benefit me,” Bishop-Nriagu says. “I have done a lot of things in this sport, and I’m very proud of what I’ve done. I hold Canadian records, I’ve won multiple championships, I run under two minutes. This is my job — I’m so fortunate that this is my job. My only big checklist item left is an Olympic medal. And I have worked tirelessly. It’s been an emotional and physical rollercoaster, especially coming back from pregnancy and the last five years. It has been MF hard, if you will.”

MF hard (look up MF, if you must) because Bishop-Nriagu has put in the work, and that’s why she enters these Games feeling rightfully confident. On July 10, in her final pre-Olympic tune-up, she laid down her fastest time in four years, winning in Sacramento, Calif., in 1:58.36 — and she didn’t even lay it all out there.

“I had other gears to give,” she says.

Bishop-Nriagu hit Olympic standard in early May, clocking in at 1:59.40. It was her first race inside two minutes since August of 2017.

“That was like, ‘Hell yes, I’m back,’” she says. “I can do this.”

Seven days after she hit standard, Bishop-Nriagu clocked a 1:58.62. That’s the earliest she’s hit the 1:58 mark in any season, ever. “She’s a numbers-driven person,” says her coach, Trent Stellingwerff. “From that point forward, her confidence has just been locked in. She knows: ‘I can run with the best in the world. I’ve still got this.’”

Bishop-Nriagu also put up a new personal best at 1,500 metres this season, improving by five seconds. The longer training and races ahead of the Games help, because in Tokyo she’ll need to put up a block of three fast races over five days, with heats starting Friday morning in Tokyo (Thursday evening for those watching in Canada).

“I know it’s in there. The training has been really good,” Bishop-Nriagu says. “It’s just a matter of putting things all together at the right time.”

And in a race that can be pretty chaotic. The 800m is incredibly tactical, with eight runners in the final, and no set lanes after the start. There’s pushing, boxing in, front-running, drafting, hitting openings, bumping off bodies — you name it. Stellingwerff says one of Bishop-Nriagu’s strengths is an innate skill to run tactically and take advantage of opportunities in front of her, making her moves at the right time.

Five years ago on this stage she did just that, and came down the stretch in third place. It wasn’t until the final few metres that the Canadian was passed by Margaret Wambui, who earned bronze for Kenya. Wambui won’t be running in Tokyo, and neither will the gold and silver medallists from Rio. Wambui, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, and two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya of South Africa have been banned from competing in the 800m due to high naturally occurring levels of testosterone. To compete in the 800m, they would be required to lower their testosterone levels either through medication or surgery. All three athletes have been highly critical of the ruling and none has agreed to abide by it.

Bishop-Nriagu is focused on her race and the field that will be there. Six women have broken 1:57 this season, and Bishop’s best time puts her 16th overall. It’s why breaking her 1:57.01 national standard is the goal.

“It has to be,” she says.

“If she can do that,” Stellingwerff adds, “I do think it’ll definitely be in the realm of medals.”

To find her motivation to do that, Bishop-Nriagu doesn’t have to look hard. She has it in spades.

“It’s a constant fuelling system for me, thinking about all of the people I’m doing this for,” she says.

Her long-time coach, Dennis Fairall, passed away last fall, and these races will be for him. She thinks of her husband, Osi, who she met at the University of Windsor. She thinks of Corinne. She thinks of her parents, of her support system, of the people in her hometown and the surrounding Ottawa Valley who had a parade for her after her fourth-place finish in Rio. She thinks of Stellingwerff, who along with his wife, former Olympic runner Hilary Stellingwerff (née Edmondson), has been instrumental.

And then there’s the chance to stand atop an Olympic podium, the greatest fuel of all.

“Ultimately all that external stuff is good, but also just deep down for Melissa: She wants to leave it all out there,” Stellingwerff says. “She’s in the hunt for an Olympic medal. That’s the biggest motivation for her.”

“I don’t know if I can appropriately put it into words,” Bishop-Nriagu says about how badly she wants that top-three Olympic finish. “It has been a journey, and I so much appreciate that I have this opportunity. I’m looking forward to getting into that group of girls and just running all out.

“And I mean, I really, really want this.”

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