Matonovich realizes Team Canada dream at worlds, caps outstanding freshman season

Matonovich, 19, raced in Heat 2 of the women’s 1,500-metre event, posting a time of 4:21.44 to place ninth among 14 runners.

She fell less than four seconds shy of a top-five finish in the heat and did not qualify for the Sunday final.

“It was like nothing I had ever experienced before,” Matonovich said, noting she gleaned lessons on tactics and strategy. “The people I was going against were the best in the world my age. This is a first of many more, I’ve been told by my coach and other coaches from Team Canada. This is a big stepping stone, I would say, to bigger and larger, hopefully, national events in the future.”

Matonovich had an outstanding freshman season with the Simon Fraser University Red Leafs.

She considers the highlight a bronze-medal finish at the NCAA Division Two National Championships in May in Emporia, Kansas, where she clocked in at 4:20.15 in the final to earn her first individual All-American trophy.

The former Sa-Hali secondary student was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) women’s track athlete of the year and freshman of the year for the 2026 outdoor season.

Matonovich was the conference’s women’s freshman of the year for the indoor season, thanks in part to a four-medal performance – three gold and one silver – at the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in February in Spokane, Wash.

“With this also being my first year competing at a varsity level for cross country, indoor and outdoor, it was a very long season, but it was the coolest I’ve ever had in my life,” she said. “There are lots of things that happened behind the scenes this year and challenges I’ve experienced with my support team, like being sick and managing my Graves’ disease, but we’ve come through and we’ve made it to worlds and made my dream come true.”

Matonovich will reluctantly take a couple of weeks off before ramping up preparation for her sophomore season and first cross-country event of the campaign in September.

“I’ve been going since the middle of last August,” she said. “I was texting my coach today [Aug. 10] and I was like, ‘OK, let’s have a meeting. Let’s plan for what goals are for next season,’ because I’m just so eager. She’s like, ‘Whoa, we need to have a break.’”

by Marty Hastings

Matonovich realizes Team Canada dream at worlds, caps outstanding freshman season

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