Our favorite weekend exercise? Watching Canada’s subsequent era of elite athletes elevate the bar. And on Sunday on the Oklahoma Throws Collection in Ramona, Okla., 18-year-old Julia Tunks of London, Ont., did precisely that. Opening her season with a monstrous toss of 62.95m, Tunks shattered the Canadian discus document of 62.72m–a mark that stood unchallenged for 45 years and was the longest-standing girls’s nationwide observe and subject document.
Tunks dominated the meet, successful by greater than two metres and surpassing her earlier private finest–and former U20 nationwide document–by practically 90 centimetres. Her throw at the moment ranks because the seventh-farthest on this planet this 12 months, and can possible safe her spot throughout the choice quota for September’s World Championships in Tokyo.
With this efficiency, Tunks now holds the U18, U20 and senior Canadian information within the discus. The earlier senior document was set in August 1979 by Canadian-Romanian Olympic thrower Carmen Ionesco.
A formidable resume
Tunks has already made waves internationally. She positioned seventh on the U20 World Championships in Lima, Peru, final August, and, at simply 17, she took gold on the 2023 Pan American U20 Championships in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Her rising medal assortment additionally consists of nationwide gold (2023) and silver (2024), together with double gold within the discus and shot put from the 2024 OFSAA Championships.
Tunks and her sister Jenna are each coached by their father, Jason Tunks, a retired Canadian discus thrower and three-time Olympian; his nationwide document of 67.88 has stood since 1998.