Osaka, Japan – The first wave of Canadian athletes arrived in Osaka yesterday for the 11th IAAF World Championships in athletics. Held in Japan for the second time – Tokyo in 1991 – the championships will be the largest ever with 203 countries participating. The previous record was 201 countries at the 8th World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta.

The second wave of athletes will arrive on Wednesday August 22 while the remainder of the team will arrive from the training camp in Singapore on Friday August 24.

The first athletes to touch down in Osaka were Dylan Armstrong from Kamloops, BC; Diane Cummins from Victoria, BC; Anson Henry from Pickering, ON; Jim Steacy from Lethbridge, AB; Nicole Forrester of Aurora, ON; Kevin Sullivan from Brantford, ON; Angela Whyte of Edmonton, AB.

Expected to arrive on Wednesday are Simon Bairu of Regina, SK; Brian Barnett and Tyler Christopher from Edmonton, AB; Perdita Felicien from Pickering, ON; Adam Kunkel from Paisley, ON; Priscilla Lopes of Whitby, ON.

Two athletes who qualified and were named to the team will not be able to participate. Jessica Zelinka from London, ON sustained an injury on her way to a gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and Malindi Elmore from Calgary recently suffered a stress fracture.