De Grasse earns 1st top-3 finish in 100m in over a year, ties season-best time in Ostrava
Fellow Canadian Jerome Blake 6th in sprint double, Alysha Newman's pole vault struggles continue
Andre De Grasse matched his season-best time and earned his first top-three finish in the 100-metre sprint in over a year at Tuesday's 62nd Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic.
Racing his first 100 in a month, the Canadian finished strong in Lane 5 and crossed the line third in 10.21 seconds, tying his performance from his season opener at the Tom Jones Memorial meet in Gainesville, Fla.
Technically, De Grasse ran faster Tuesday competing in comfortable conditions and a slight tailwind – 0.6 metres per second, compared to 1.6 m/s at the Florida event in April.
Akani Simbine was the only athlete in Tuesday's eight-man field to run under 10 seconds, prevailing in 9.98 over European indoor champion Samuele Ceccarelli of Italy (10.15).
WATCH | De Grasse clocks 10.21 seconds in 3rd 100m race of season:
For De Grasse, it was his first top-three performance since June 16, 2022 when the Markham, Ont., runner was first (10.05) at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway. Tuesday was also his 13th consecutive race above 10 seconds dating to Sept. 9, 2021 when he stopped the clock in 9.89 in the Diamond League Final, tying his personal best from the 2020 Olympic final in Tokyo.
'I can see things turning around'
On May 21, De Grasse went 10.16 with a significant tailwind (4.4 m/s) at the Bermuda Grand Prix.
"I can see in training things turning around — he's just running faster," Coghlan said in a recent interview with CBC Sports. "That's not a guarantee it's going to happen in [his next race]. The real thing is when you get consistent good training over a significant period."
WATCH | De Grasse posts season-best time in Oslo:
Coghlan added De Grasse is not yet in peak shape but "moving in the right direction."
Performing at a high level at the Aug. 19-27 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary is the goal, the coach said, adding the "real business end of the season" arrives in mid-to-late July and August. The Canadian track and field championships, which double as the 2024 Paris Olympic trials, is scheduled for July 27-30 in Langley, B.C.
De Grasse, 28, returns to the track Friday in the 200 at the Athletissima Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. He'll switch to the 100 two days later at another Diamond League stop in Stockholm.
Jerome Blake, De Grasse's 4x100 relay teammate, placed sixth in 10.33 at Tuesday's World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet. It was his first 100 since running 10.20 at the Kip Keino Classic on May 13 in Kasarani, Nairobi.
WATCH | The key to De Grasse's speed:
The 27-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., also ran the 200 on Tuesday but appeared either rusty in his first race at the distance since late April or tired from the 100 earlier.
Third off the bend, Blake faded down the straightaway and reached the line in 20.81, ahead of only 36-year-old Isaac Makwala of Botswana (20.93).
WATCH | Blake tails off over final 100 metres of 200 race:
Liberian-American sprinter Joseph Fahnbulleh, the 2022 NCAA Division 1 champion in the 200, withdrew from Tuesday's race after placing fifth (10.26) in the 100.
Luxolo Adams led a 1-2 South African finish in a 20.22 SB, followed by Sinesipho Dambile (20.58) and Slovakia's Ján Volko (20.65).
lol today was definitely not it 😂
—@_JeromeblakeMiddle-distance runner Kieran Lumb and pole vaulter Alysha Newman were the other Canadians competing.
Lumb of Vancouver was 10th of 19 finishers in the men's 1,500, stopping the clock in three minutes 36.97 seconds. Third at last year's nationals, the 24-year-old has a 3:35.43 SB.
3rd no height in 4 events
Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma won with a 3:33.15 PB after shattering the men's 3,000 steeplechase world record on June 9 in France.
Newman, who turns 29 on Thursday, entered the women's pole vault in Ostrava at 4.34 metres and failed to clear all three of her attempts for her third no-height result in the past four events over two weeks.
On June 9, the London, Ont., native cleared 4.46 at the Meeting de Paris Diamond League event coming off a 4.61 season best but dipped to 4.30 eight days later at the Kuortane Games in Finland. Newman also no-heighted at the June 13 Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland and 11 days later in Germany.
She set the Canadian record of 4.82 in France at the 2019 Meeting de Paris.
Newman returned to the Diamond League circuit for this season's opener on May 5 in Doha, Qatar, her first event on the professional circuit since May 2021 after a lingering concussion suffered the previous month and stress fracture in her left heel prematurely ended the pole vaulter's 2022 season.
Duplantis sets world-leading outdoor pole vault mark
Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis cleared a season world-leading outdoor 6.12 metres.
The 23-year-old world record holder improved his previous outdoor best of 6.11 this season at Hengelo, Netherlands, earlier this month.
Duplantis cleared 6.12 with his first attempt before missing at 6.17.
"I just tried to do the best I could as I always do and I'm pretty happy with the 6.12 to win," Duplantis told the Czech public television.
The American-born Duplantis, who competes for Sweden, set a world record of 6.22 at an indoor meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France, on Feb. 25.
Elsewhere:
- Another world-record holder, American shot putter Ryan Crouser, dominated the competition with a throw of 22.63 metres to improve his own Golden Spike record.
- Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico won the women's 100 hurdles in 12.42 seconds to stay unbeaten this year.
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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With files from The Associated Press
