'I learned my lesson': Sprinter Bednarek says to not underestimate 'Championship Andre'
Injured De Grasse pulls out of 100-metre Diamond League showdown with Brown
American sprinter Kenny Bednarek was cruising in his 2021 rookie season as a pro, first beating Andre De Grasse over 200 metres in Diamond League meets in England and Qatar, and later at a Continental Tour event in Hungary.
The Tokyo Olympics were a month away and Bednarek had heard stories from De Grasse's Canadian relay teammate Aaron Brown of how "Championship Andre" would post lower-than-expected times early in a season, only to excel when he arrived at the Summer Games and world championships.
De Grasse ran the 100 in 10.17 seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic, 10 weeks before Bednarek watched him clock a personal-best 9.89 in Tokyo for a bronze medal to become the first Canadian to win multiple Olympic medals in the distance.
"I was like, 'Where did this come from? This is a different dude,'" Bednarek recalled in a recent interview with CBC Sports.
In the Olympic 200 semifinals, Bednarek remembered having "a pretty good start and was chillin'" when De Grasse blew by him and won their heat by 10-100ths of a second in a Canadian record 19.73.
"This is where I underestimated him," Bednarek said of De Grasse. "[He] did something no one in Canada [had] done before and [I thought] maybe I got him. Maybe he's [tired]." De Grasse went faster the next day in the final, clocking 19.62 for the victory — the first time a Canadian had won an Olympic 200 since Percy Williams in 1928.
"I have mad respect for him. He's made me a better competitor," said Bednarek, who rebounded to beat De Grasse at the Diamond League Finals in 2021 and last year. "I need to be on my A game no matter what. The race ain't finished until you cross the finish line. No matter who's in the [field], I'm always ready."
Wise words for Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who met De Grasse in the 200 on Friday at Athletissima, the sixth stop of the Diamond League season in Lausanne, Switzerland. He edged the Canadian in the 100 last May at the Prefontaine Classic and won the 200 at this year's Botswana Grand Prix in 19.87, while De Grasse went 20.41 on that April day in his season opener.
Tebogo also got the better of Tebogo on Friday, posting a winning time of 20.01.
WATCH | Brown, De Grasse place 5th, 6th in 200m in Lausanne:
2022 season disrupted by toe injury
On Sunday, Sweden's Henrik Larsson and Rafael Bouju of the Netherlands — each of whom has run faster than De Grasse this season in the 100 but never raced him — were scheduled to face the six-time Olympic medallist at BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm, another DL competition.
But De Grasse withdrew from the event with right groin tightness, while Brown finished fifth in 10.27.
The race would have been the first head-to-head meeting between De Grasse and Brown in the 100 since the DL Final last Sept. 8 in Zurich, where Brown was third and De Grasse eighth. In fairness to the latter, he did have COVID-19 twice in 2022 and was hampered by a right big toe injury for much of the campaign.
WATCH | Brown battles wet conditions to place 5th in Sweden:
Brown, the four-time defending Canadian champion in the 100 and 200, has prevailed in six consecutive matchups (100/200 combined) and eight of the past 11 races between them, including three times this season in the 200. He got off to a blazing start on Friday, leading all eight competitors to start the race, but eventually lost steam, finishing fifth in 20.44. De Grasse was sixth in 20.57.
"His work on the bend is a lot better," said Bednarek, who trains with Brown at the Star Athletics Track Club in Montverde, Fla. "When we were racing in Doha [on May 5] I had a really good turn and he was right behind me.
"Me and all the younger athletes [at Star Athletics] look up to him. We see how hard he works, and it makes us want to work hard. Every single time Aaron goes to the track he's trying to get better so he can come out as Canada's best."
WATCH | Brown sprints to 3rd in men's 200m at Doha:
Brown returned from a three-week training block to race in Lausanne, where the Toronto native set a 19.95 PB on July 5, 2019. His best this season is 20 seconds flat in Botswana on April 29.
De Grasse posted a 20.33 SB in the 200 earlier this month at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway. In Friday's field, Cuba's Reynier Mena (19.95) and Tebogo were the only men to run sub-20 this season.
On Tuesday, De Grasse finished strong in Lane 5 of the 100 at the 62nd Ostrava Golden Spike, stopping the clock in 10.21 to match his season best from April 15 in Gainesville, Fla.
WATCH | De Grasse clocks 10.21 seconds in 3rd 100m race of season:
"I can see in training things turning around — he's just running faster," De Grasse's coach John Coghlan said in a recent interview with CBC Sports. "That's not a guarantee it's going to happen in [his next race]."
South Africa's Akani Simbine, the only athlete in Tuesday's eight-man field to run under 10 seconds in 9.98, won last year's 100 in Stockholm in 10.02 over Reece Prescod of Great Britain and Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut. All three will be in Sunday's field at Stockholm Olympic Stadium, where a new track was installed after last year's competition.
Diamond League calendar
- Silesia, Poland — July 16
- Monaco — July 21
- London — July 23
- Shanghai — July 29
- Shenzhen, China — Aug. 3
- Zurich — Aug. 31
- Brussels — Sept. 8
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here
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