By: Jonathan Yue
When Melissa Bishop-Nriagu takes to the track for her first race at Claude-Robillard for the 2019 Canadian Track & Field Championships, she’ll have a new fan watching her in the grandstand, her daughter Corinne.
Bishop-Nriagu will be motivated, not only to show Corinne what she can do, but to also show her that there are no limitations on the things that she wants to do.
“I want her to know that being a girl doesn’t give you limitations. I want her to see her mom walking out the door every day to do what she loves the most, to inspire her to do something that she’s really passionate about and loves to do,” said Bishop-Nriagu. “It may take 20 years for her to figure that out and I’ll be well retired by then, but I hope she can look back and see how cool this is.”
After taking the 2018 season away from the track after giving birth to Corinne, the Canadian 800-metre record holder has made her return to competition this year. She has the second fastest time (2:01.10) in the women’s 800-metre event, trailing last year’s Canadian Champion Lindsey Butterworth (2:00.31).
As she reflects on her time away and her upcoming return to the Canadian Track & Field Championships in Montreal on Friday, she wouldn’t have changed a thing. She’s healthy, feeling good and just excited to get onto the track.
“The stars aligned and she arrived at the perfect time. The way things have been lining up on the schedule it’s worked out for us and we love her to bits and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Bishop-Nriagu. “I’m looking forward to seeing my old friends again, I missed it last year so I’m just looking forward to racing again.”
The 2019 schedule presents itself as a longer season, giving the 30-year-old time to get back into top shape. The end goal is the 2020 Olympic Games, taking it a step at a time with the IAAF World Championships in Qatar coming up first at the end of September.
With the likes of high profile athletes like Serena Williams in tennis and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce making their return to dominate their respective events, it only strengthens and proves Bishop-Nriagu’s belief that it’s possible to come back stronger after pregnancy.
“The biggest thing I’ve seen from women coming back to sport from pregnancy is that we can do it and there are no limitation to us. There might be a social limitation in a sense, but I think we come back as stronger women and we have more to fight for now. I look up to those women a lot and I hope to be in that same category as someone who can come back and find success.”
She won’t be on the Canadian team in Lima, Peru, for this year’s Pan American Games and won’t be able to defend her gold medal from the Toronto Games, but her main goal is the Olympic Games in Tokyo. After finishing just off the podium in fourth place, Bishop-Nriagu knows what she has to do now, and hopefully execute it to get that elusive Olympic medal.
“I need to have the perfect race,” said Bishop-Nriagu. “All my stars need to align on that day. We’ll keep working on the physical, but also the mental side of things. There will be a day when everything lines up, and that will be my gold.”