Jody and Jordyn Francis won’t forget the number 18.09 any time soon. That’s how long it takes them to run 100 metres.
What caught officials’ eyes at the 2026 NWT Track and Field Championships? Each of the 10-year-old twins ran the exact same time in separate heats.
Call it twin telepathy or sheer coincidence, but it caused a little confusion in Hay River as race volunteers wondered if the same child had run twice by mistake.
“One of the other coaches said: Are you sure it wasn’t the same girl?” Julie Francis, the girls’ mom, told Cabin Radio afterward.
Invited to explain being exactly as fast as each other – to the hundredth of a second – Jody reached for the simplest answer: “Maybe because we’re twins,” she said.
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“I was just going to say that,” added Jordyn.
The girls represented Hay River’s Princess Alexandra School at the three-day event. Jody said the 100m was her favourite because “I like that I can get energy out of my body” by doing it.
“My best moment’s been long jump,” said Jordyn, by contrast. “My mom was cheering me on when I was jumping. That makes a lot of difference.”
Asked who would win a 100m rematch, each twin was clear: They would win.
That left Cabin Radio with no option but to go to their mom as the tiebreaker. If each twin is sure they would win a rematch, what does Julie think?
“I think if you ain’t first, you’re last,” she said.
