York University track and field athlete, David St. Bernard of Scarborough, Ont., captured gold in the decathlon at the Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships last weekend in Saskatoon, Sask.
Right: David St. Bernard
St. Bernard, York's Rookie Athlete of the Year in 2003-2004, won the decathlon with a personal best score of 6532. He also recorded seven outdoor personal bests in the 10 event decathlon including the 100-metre run, long jump, shot put, high jump, discus, pole vault and javelin. An Ontario University Athletics (OUA) All-Star, St. Bernard captured gold in the pentathlon at this year's OUA Championships in February.
Ben Krul (New Liskeard, Ont.), who will compete for York in the 2005 season after transferring from Graceland University in Iowa, finished second in the decathlon just 28 points behind St. Bernard. Krul and St. Bernard will represent Canada at a Combined Events meet on August 28-29 in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
"To see David put together such a strong decathlon at this year's juniors is a testament to the hard work he and coach Gaby Szanto have put in this year," says York track and field head coach Colin Inglis. "The new decathlon training group of David and Ben along with new addition Artem Korostelev and veteran Patrick Russell will go a long way to the future development and success of York's multi-event specialists."