Montcalm

Noelle Montcalm has long secured her spot in Canada’s women’s hurdling history books. She earned her fifth National Championship at the 2021 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials this past June in Montreal and won four of Athletics Canada’s Tokyo Qualifier Series events in the 400-metre hurdles.

Tokyo will be her second Olympic Games. Montcalm made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 where she competed individually in the 400-metre hurdles and helped Canada to a fourth-place finish in the 4x400-metre relay, setting a new personal best in that race.

Montcalm enjoyed a breakout season in 2013 when she won the first of two consecutive national titles in the 400-metre hurdles and qualified to compete at the Summer Universiade, the Jeux de la Francophonie and the IAAF World Championships. It was just her second season competing in the 400-metre hurdles, having made the switch up from the 100-metre hurdles after graduating from the University of Windsor.

She won two silver medals at the Jeux de la Francophonie in the 400-metre hurdles and the 4x400-metre relay. She also won silver with the 4x400-metre relay at the Universiade. A year later she posted a pair of fifth place finishes in the 400-metre hurdles and 4x400-metre relay at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Unable to train at full capacity in 2015 due to bursitis in her knee, Montcalm finished fourth at the Canadian Championships. But she rebounded in 2016, reclaiming the national title in 55.83 seconds (just 0.02 off her personal best) to go under the Olympic Entry Standard for Rio.

Montcalm first realized how much she wanted to compete for Canada when she finished fifth in the 100-metre hurdles at the 2008 Olympic Trials and saw how close she was to the Olympians in the race. She won three medals at the 2009 Canada Games, including double gold in the 100 metres and 100-metre hurdles.

While attending the University of Windsor, Montcalm won 16 CIS (now U SPORTS) medals, was a five-time CIS Academic All-Canadian, and was named the OUA’s Most Outstanding Performer four straight years from 2008 to 2011.