DEBUES-STAFFORD Gabriela

Date of Birth: 13 Sep 1995

Age: 25

Gender: Female

Place of birth: LONDON, ON

Birth Country:

Canada

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Athletics	Women's 1500m	5

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 1500m Round 1 - Heat 1	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 1500m Semi-Final 1	Finished
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 1500m Final	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Olympic Games

Year	Location	1500m
2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	Round 1 (4:09.45)

World Athletics Championships

Year	Location	1500m
2019	Doha, QAT	6th (3:56.12)
2017	London, GBR	SF (4:08.51)

NACAC Championships

Year	Location	1500m
2018	Toronto, ON, CAN	Finals (4:07.36)

Diamond League overview - Three best ranks per season and event since 2017

Year	1500m	Mile	5000m
2021	1 x 4th	-	-
2019	2 x 3rd, 1 x 5th, 1 x 8th	1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd	1 x 4th, 1 x 7th
2018	1 x 11th	-	-
2017	1 x 11th	-	-

Diamond League - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Location	Result
2	2019	Mile	Birmingham, GBR	4:22.47
3	2019	1500m	Zurich, SUI	3:59.59
3	2019	1500m	London, GBR	4:00.26
3	2019	Mile	Monaco, MON	4:17.87
4	2021	1500m	Florence, ITA	4:00.46
4	2019	5000m	Stockholm, SWE	14:51.59
5	2019	1500m	Rome, ITA	4:01.28
7	2019	5000m	Brussels, BEL	14:44.12
8	2019	1500m	Rabat, MAR	4:00.46
11	2018	1500m	Birmingham, GBR	4:07.51
11	2017	1500m	Rome, ITA	4:04.87

World Athletics Continental Tour - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
2	2021	1500m	World Athletics Continental Tour	Walnut, CA, USA	4:00.69

World Challenge - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
5	2017	1500m	World Challenge	Berlin, GER	4:03.55

World Indoor Championships

Year	Location	1500m
2018	Birmingham, GBR	Heats (4:09.94)

Legend
SF - Semifinal, QF - Quarterfinal, 1R - 1st Round, Qual. - Qualification, QR - Qualification Round, DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, DQ - Disqualified, NM - No Mark, [Relay athlete without time] - Did not run in final

G (olympic.ca, 22 Jul 2016)

Previous names:

Gabriela Stafford

Occupation:

Psychology - University of Toronto, Canada

Husband Rowan DeBues-Stafford

Languages spoken:

Andy Young [personal], GBR, from 2018

Sporting relatives:

Her father James ran at four editions of the cross-country world championships, and her aunt Sara Gardner competed at the 1992 World Cross-Country Championships in Boston, MA, United States of America. Her younger sister Lucia has represented Canada in athletics at the world junior championships, and set an U23 national record in the 1500m in 2020. (runningmagazine.ca, 02 Feb 2020; olympic.ca, 22 Jul 2016; SportsDeskOnline, 15 Jul 2020)

She began running competitively at age nine. (olympic.ca, 22 Jul 2016; athleticsillustrated.com, 11 Apr 2016)

She was influenced by her mother, who was the coach of her school cross-country team. (athleticsillustrated.com, 11 Apr 2016)

To reach the 1500m final at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (worldathletics.org, 30 Dec 2019)

Philosophy:

"Run with fearless abandon." (Twitter profile, 29 Jul 2016)

She was named Canadian Interuniversity Sport [CIS] National Track Events Female Athlete of the Year in 2016. (olympic.ca, 22 Jul 2016; insidetoronto.com, 29 May 2016; usports.ca, 10 Mar 2016)

General Interest

General
RISE IN 2019
In 2019 she set eight Canadian records [two indoor, six outdoor] across the 5000m, mile and 1500m events, and ran 11 personal best times. She attributed the success to her new training group under coach Andy Young. "It was satisfying to start training in a new group, be totally out of my depth at first - not being in control to hang with the leaders of a race - and slowly be able to [handle] the pace, workouts and the training. It's neat to be able to go back to those stages and have increased fitness, learn more tactically and strategically about racing. To feel capable of handling the challenges and undergo the growth is satisfying." (cbc.ca, 11 Feb 2020)

MOVE TO SCOTLAND
She relocated to Glasgow, Scotland, to join coach Andy Young's training group in early 2019. "I didn't have to think too long about it because I knew it was an amazing opportunity to train with the best in the world. It was exciting to know I was going to be given every opportunity to find out how good I can be. Everyone in Scotland is incredibly friendly and welcoming. I also love that you can live in a great city like Glasgow and all it takes is a quick train trip to the countryside where there are these beautiful hikes. Being able to get out into nature easily is awesome. Plus Scotland has some really cool history." (worldathletics.org, 30 Dec 2019; runningmagazine.ca, 07 Jan 2019)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She has volunteered as a musician at a retirement home in Toronto, ON, Canada. (olympic.ca, 22 Jul 2016)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

Timing and scoring provided by OMEGA. Results powered by Atos