Stafford settles for second in personal-best mile at Indoor Grand Prix

BOSTON – Lucia Stafford set a personal best, but she still came up a breath short in the women’s mile event at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Toronto athlete posted a time of four minutes, 23.52 seconds, but finished behind 27-year-old Heather MacLean of Peabody, Mass., who finished in 4:23.42.

Esther Guerrero of Spain was third in the 14-runner final in 4:24.92.

Stafford was running third at the half mile mark and moved into second around the three-quarter of a mile mark, and stayed on the hills of MacLean.

Stafford told The Canadian Press earlier in that week that she’d like to dip under the 4:24 mark, which she did.

Stafford was 13th in the 1,500 metres semifinals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, missing the last spot for the final by just four-tenths of a second.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2023.