Reigning champion De Grasse advances to men's 200m semis; pole vaulter Duplantis breaks own world record
Newman reaches women's pole vault final; Leduc misses out on women's 200m final
It was a quick, tough turnaround, but Andre De Grasse is now focused on what's ahead.
The six-time Olympic medallist fell short of qualifying for the men's 100-metre final on Sunday night, a first in his career at the Games, and quickly pivoted to running the opening round of the 200 on Monday.
De Grasse, from Markham, Ont., ran a time of 20.30 seconds to finish second to American Noah Lyles (20.19) in Heat 6 and book his ticket into Wednesday's semifinals at Stade de France. The final is set for Thursday night.
"It was tough," De Grasse said. "Of course you get the messages from family and back home and I tried to keep my phone on silent not to think about that because I was trying to shift my mind to the 200.
"Of course it's always tough when you get those messages like, 'It's OK,' and everyone's trying to cheer you up but I just had to shake that off and keep my phone on silent and not really answer those messages until after."
That wasn't all that was tough for the 29-year-old De Grasse.
"I didn't really get that much sleep last night, I guess I was so wired after the races," he said. "I had to just meditate and just relax, lay in bed for a little longer after breakfast.
"Today was tough to get up but at least now we got a day off tomorrow and then probably just do a shakeout, warm-up and get ready for the semifinals on Wednesday."
He missed the 100 final on Sunday night, finishing fifth with a season-best time of 9.98 seconds in the semifinals. However, he has performed well in the 200 this year, demonstrating significant improvement after two years of injury and struggling to return to form.
He closed last season with his fourth-best time ever, 19.76 seconds, to win the Diamond League title in September.
Before the Olympics, he last ran the 200 at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix on July 9, where he won with a season-best 19.98 seconds. His coach, Rana Reider, told The Canadian Press that De Grasse ran 'really conservative' in that race.
"I always believe in myself, whether it's the 100 or 200," De Grasse said. "I work every single day to prepare for both events so for me I know it's going to be a task, it's not going to be a laydown.
"Of course you have the Americans, you have the kid from Botswana [Letsile Tebogo] so there's a lot of people in that field that are going to bring their A-game, so I've got to make sure I'm on top of mine and just be ready for that moment."
Duplantis breaks own men's pole vault world record
Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record Monday night at the Olympics, clearing 6.25 meters (20 feet, 6 inches) to cap his second straight gold-medal performance on the sport's biggest stage.
Duplantis cleared the mark on his third and final try. It marked the ninth time the Louisiana-born 24-year-old, who competes for his mother's native Sweden, has broken the record, but the first time at the Olympics.
Duplantis' string of breaking records, each time by one centimetre, started Feb. 8, 2020. His previous record came April 20 in China.
America's Sam Kendricks won the silver medal and Emmanouli Karalis of Greece took the bronze.
After Duplantis had the victory sealed by clearing 6.10, he had the bar moved to one centimeter higher than the world-record height. Following his first miss, he used a break while Noah Lyles was receiving the gold medal for his 100-metre victory the night before, to study video with his parents on a tablet.
Another miss ensued, then another long break.
All of the other events were over, but most of the crowd, including the king and queen of Sweden, stayed in the arena, singing along to the French song "Alleur de Feu" — "Light the Fire" — and clapping in rhythm.
Duplantis teetered on a foam roller, removed his shoes, then put them back on. Finally, he lined up for the last try and cleared it, then went sprinting toward the stands to celebrate the close of another memorable night at the Olympic track and field meet.
Leduc out of women's 200m final
In the women's 200, Audrey Leduc of Gatineau, Que., finished sixth in her semifinal and did not advance to Tuesday's final.
Jacqueline Madogo of Guelph, Ont., who won her repechage heat earlier Monday, placed seventh in the other semifinal and also failed to qualify for the final.
Newman into women's pole vault final
Earlier in the day, Alysha Newman advanced into her first Olympic women's pole vault final. The 30-year-old from London, Ont., cleared 4.55 metres on her first attempt in qualifying action to advance.
Newman is the Canadian record holder at 4.83 metres and is in her third Olympics.
She has cleared 4.75-plus metres in three of her last four meets leading into the Paris Games after returning from an ankle injury suffered in March just before the world indoor championships.
"This is my first Olympic final and I think we can't forget that in [2004], Dana Ellis finished sixth at Athens," Newman said. "So I would like to walk around and say I'm one of the best of all time [in Canada] but she still has me beat on that.
Saskatoon's Anicka Newell did not qualify after failing to get over the bar on all three of her attempts at 4.55.
Jean-Simon Desgagnes also qualified for the men's 3000 steeplechase final on Monday.
The 26-year-old from Quebec City finished fifth in Heat 3 with a time of eight minutes 25.28 seconds to take the last qualifying spot in his heat for Wednesday's final.
With files from The Associated Press
