Local athletes did this northern mining town proud this past weekend at the 2026 Ontario Summer Games as a healthy haul of gold, silver and bronze medals made their way back home.

If one wanted to locate the bounty this Monday of the long weekend, a great starting point might be the Esmie household. Son of Canadian Olympic gold medal winner Robert Esmie, 13 year old Nehemiah returned with one gold and three silver medals from the track and field events hosted in Kitchener-Waterloo.

“I would say that the one that made me most happy was the 80m dash,” said the young man who placed second in that U14 sprint (10.10), first in the discus (32.05m), second in the javelin (37.23m) and second in the 150m (18.30).

“I usually medal in the throws but I got a big PB (in the 80m – 10.04 in heats) – and that was nice.”

At this age, Esmie likely looks more the part of runner than thrower, though he did note a couple of advantages that play into his hand when it comes to competing against more muscled teens. “I have a pretty long wingspan which helps me with the throws in javelin and discus,” he said.

“I have really good footwork and am learning how to do the spins from my coaches.”

Yet for all that he has accomplished in track and field, his heart still lies with basketball. “I don’t mind doing the track practices knowing that it will help me with the agility, the footwork and the speed that I need for basketball,” said Esmie. “All of that helps me win some of the awards I have won, like Defensive Player of the Year.”

Northern Lights T & F teammates from Sudbury who also medalled at the Games included Joey Guignard (boys U14 – javelin – 38.08m) and Ay’Den Nixon, a member of the girls 1600m U16 sprint medley team.

Beyond that, a good number of Sudbury-trained tracksters came close, with top-six placements as follows:

Ay'Den Nixon - U16 Girls - 100m dash - 12.81 (4th)
Ash'Li Nixon - U16 Girls - 200m race - 26.79 (4th)
Tejeda Gieselman - U14 Boys - 2000m - 6:36.07 (4th)
Joshua Doiron - U14 Boys - discus - 22.91m (4th)
Joshua Doiron - U14 Boys - shot put - 8.07m (5th)
Tejeda Gieselman - U14 Boys - 1200m - 3:45.28 (5th)
Joey Guignard - U14 Boys - long jump - 4.46m (5th)
Yuvraj Singh - U16 Boys - 800m - 2:05.89 (6th)
Ash'Li Nixon - U16 Girls - long jump - 4.73m (6th)