Lucia Stafford (born August 18, 1998) is a Canadian

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

specializing in

middle-distance running Middle-distance running events are Track and field#Running, track races longer than Sprint (running), sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be clas ...

. She is the 2017 Pan American U20 champion in the women's

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

, and competed for Canada at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. Stafford is the North American indoor record holder for the

1000 metres The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested. All-time top 25 *h = hand timed *i = indoor performance *A = affected by ...

Early life

Stafford was born in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

and grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. 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 Gabriela Maria DeBues-Stafford (née Stafford, born 13 September 1995) is a Canadian middle- and long-distance runner. A two-time Olympian, she placed fifth in the women's 1500 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. DeBues-Stafford holds the NACA ...

initially trained in

competitive Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

Irish dancing Irish dance refers to a group of traditional dance forms that originate in Ireland, encompassing dancing both solo and in groups, and dancing for social, competitive, and performance purposes. Irish dance in its current form developed from vario ...

, 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 Graves' disease (german: Morbus Basedow), also known as toxic diffuse goiter, is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. It frequently results in and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It also often results in an enlarged thyr ...

as teenagers, with Stafford's case proving a considerable hindrance in her early career.

Career

In 2017, Stafford won gold at the 2017 Pan American U20 Athletics Championships in the women's

event. She was accepted to the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

to study

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

, and while there, competed for the Varsity Blues. At the

2019 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 118 , Athletes participating = 5,971 , Events = 220 , Sports = 18 , Opening ceremony = 3 July , Closing ceremony = 14 July , Officially opened by = President Se ...

, Stafford finished in fifth in the 4x400 relay and the 1500 m. The onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

resulted in the cancellation of much of the 2020 athletic season and the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

being delayed by a full year. For Stafford, this afforded her time to recover from a

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...

procedure that she credited with allowing her to train more consistently. In July 2021, Stafford was named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team in the women's 1500 m event, alongside her sister. 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. In advance of the 2022 season, Stafford moved to train at the

Bowerman Track Club The Bowerman Track Club (BTC) is an American training group sponsored by Nike, Inc. for professional distance runners as well as a separate recreational club for casual runners. The professional team is supported by head coach Jerry Schumacher and ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, joining her sister Gabriela. However, they would both depart the club early in the following year, citing controversy around another club member,

Shelby Houlihan Shelby Houlihan (born February 8, 1993) is an American middle distance runner, Olympian and World Record holder in the 4x1500m relay who is currently serving a ban. Houlihan competed in the 5000m final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, finishing ...

. Stafford made her World Indoor debut at the 2022 edition in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, finishing eighth in the 1500 m. She went on to make her

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

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 The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, but her preparations were hindered by contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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." Following her departure from the Bowerman Club, Stafford resumed training in Toronto with longtime coach Terry Radchenko. On January 28, 2023, Stafford broke the North American indoor record in the

with a time of 2:33.75 at the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

John Thomas Terrier Classic in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. She moved to ninth on the world indoor all-time list. After narrowly missing the World Athletics Championship qualifying standard for the 1500 m at the 2023 Millrose Games, she cleared it with a personal best 4:02.03 at the USATF LA Grand Prix on May 27. Stafford finished 28th in the heats of the 1500 m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, running a 4:05.21. 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."

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. Her mother passed away due to

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

when Lucia was 10. Both Gabriela and Lucia are trilingual, speaking English, French and Spanish. In the fall of 2022, Stafford enrolled in the singer/songwriter program at

Seneca College Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology is a multiple-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area, and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada regions. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccalaureate, diploma, certificate and ...

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Lucia 1998 births Living people Athletes from Toronto Canadian female track and field athletes Sportspeople from London, Ontario Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for Canada 21st-century Canadian women