'Something special happening' in Canadian track and field ahead of July's world championships

Coming off arguably their best collective performance ever at an Olympics having won six medals in Tokyo and finishing fifth out of 70 countries on the placing table, Canadian track and field athletes are now setting their sights on the upcoming athletics season.

It begins in earnest on Friday with the opening Diamond League meet in Doha, and peaks with the world athletic championships July 15-24 in Portland, Ore.

"I think Canadian athletics fans, Canadian sports fans, should be excited going into this year. I think the Olympics in Tokyo were amazing for Canadian track and field," said David Moorcroft, a former distance runner and now long-time track and field analyst with CBC Sports. He competed in two Olympics for Great Britain.

"There's confidence in Canadian athletics at the moment. And that's a great thing. "It hasn't always been there. It wasn't all that long ago that medals were few and far between.

"There's something special happening at the moment."

Canada matched its medal haul from Rio, bringing home six medals from the Tokyo Games. The podium performances were one thing, but there were also 15 top-eight placings by Canadian athletes.

Canadians Andre de Grasse and Damian Warner were crowned Olympics champions in two of the marquee events of the Games — De Grasse in the men's 200-metre and Warner the decathlon. 

Along with a silver in the 4x100m relay and a bronze in the 100m, De Grasse equalled his medal total from his Olympic debut in Rio. The 27-year-old from Scarborough has won a medal in every race he's competed at the Olympics. 

"He's competed in six Olympic finals and has won a medal in every one of them," Moorcroft said. "The vast majority of athletes get one or two medals at the most. And they have to earn their stripes by competing and getting knocked out. But in his first Games he came back with three medals and did it again in Tokyo.

"My goodness, when it comes to a championship he knows how to get it right."

De Grasse will be competing in the first Diamond League event of the season on Friday, along with fellow sprinters Aaron Brown and Jerome Blake. The three of them, with Brendon Rodney, won silver in the 4x100m relay in Tokyo. 

The four sprinters hold the four fastest times in the 200m in Canadian history with De Grasse leading the way in a time of 19.62.

WATCH | Brown wins his 200-metre season opener in 20.05 seconds:

But it's not just one or two athletes carrying the load for Canada anymore. Moorcroft says there is a depth of talent across the board in Canadian athletics you don't often see.