Canada's Django Lovett, Marco Arop watch Olympic medal hopes fade late in events
High jumper places 8th in final while runner eliminated in 800-metre semifinals
Django Lovett got a sniff of the medal podium early in his first Olympic high jump final as he matched the reigning world champion with each attempt. Sunday's showdown with Mutaz Essa Barshim began at 2.24 metres, then 2.27 and 2.30.
But within seconds, Lovett's lead and dream at the Summer Games were gone following a failed bid to tie a season and personal best of 2.33. The 28-year-old from Surrey, B.C., missed all three tries and finished eighth in the 13-man field on a warm Tokyo night.
"I'm disappointed in the end result. I was feeling much better and I felt capable of producing a much better result than what I did," Lovett told Athletics Canada. "I'm grateful to the Japanese people for hosting these events and taking on this burden for the rest of the world. It has truly been a gift for everyone."
A few feet away on the track at Olympic Stadium stood Canadian teammate Marco Arop, who felt Lovett's pain.
The middle-distance runner from Edmonton led until late in his 800-metre semifinal before fading at the top of the straightaway to finish seventh in 1:44.90, 16-100ths of a second behind Kenya's Emmanuel Korir, the final qualifier for Wednesday's final at 8:05 a.m. ET.
"Marco is an extraordinary talent and he will rebound," Arop's coach Chris Woods told CBC Sports in a text message from Japan.
Later Sunday, sprinter Andre De Grasse returned to the Olympic podium, stopping the clock in a personal-best 9.89 seconds for a bronze medal, Canada's 14th of these Games and first by a man. He also won bronze in the 100 metres in his 2016 Olympic debut in Rio.
WATCH | De Grasse earns bronze medal, Oleksiak makes Olympic history:
Lovett arrived for his first Games on a high after clearing 2.33 on his third and final attempt in winning his first national title at Canada's Olympic trials in late June after a month away from competition.
The 28-year-old also looked strong in Tokyo qualifying second to Barshim with a best jump of 2.28 to join 12 other men in the final.
1st Olympic titles for Barshim, Tamberi
Barshim, 30, went on to jump a season-best 2.37, sharing his first Olympic title with Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi (2.37 SB). Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus earned bronze in a national record 2.37, recording two missed attempts along the way.
WATCH | Barshim, Tamberi elated after agreeing to share gold medal:
It was only the third event of 2021 for Barshim, the three-time Olympian who collected 2012 bronze in London and silver four years later in Rio. The two-time defending world champion also holds the Qatari national and Asian outdoor records of 2.43.
Arop will leave Tokyo after placing 14th in a semifinal field of 24.
After surging to the lead Saturday and winning his semifinal qualifier, he stuck to the plan Sunday, establishing a two-metre advantage early on and clocked a 50.94-second first lap with Peter Bol breathing down his neck.
Arop, 22, managed to hold off the Australian after the latter made a move around the 500-metre mark but weakened once he reached the straightaway with about 80 metres to the finish.
"The legs just weren't there today. I thought I did everything right to this point, so I guess I've just got to work on some more things," Arop, who has only run seriously for six years, told Athletics Canada. "I tried to fight it, but when I saw the last three guys pass, my body just shut down on me. There was nothing left."
Bol crossed first in a 1:44.11 PB ahead of American Clayton Murphy (1:44.18) and Frenchman Gabriel Tual (1:44.28). Ferguson Rotich, the 2019 world bronze medallist from Kenya, posted the fastest semifinal time of 1:44.04.
American Isaiah Jewett got tangled up with Botswana's Nijel Amos and the two went tumbling to the ground. They helped each other up and jogged slowly together toward the finish line.
'Learning opportunity'
Woods said Arop would be prepared for a few remaining races this season, utilizing the lessons learned from navigating through the heats and semifinal rounds of his Olympic debut.
"The experience gained here in Tokyo is the positive," said the head track and field coach at Mississippi State University, where Arop starred before turning pro in December 2019. "We would not have made it this far without all the support of his family, friends, Athletics Canada and the entire country of Canada.
"Regardless of this being his first Games, we will use this as a learning opportunity and be better moving forward."
The 2019 Pan Am Games champion has been plenty good in 2021. He won his first two races of the outdoor season, placed second at Diamond League Stockholm and on July 9 fell 6-100ths of a second shy of Brandon McBride's Canadian record in recording a 1:43.26 PB at a Diamond League meet in Monaco.
Jacobs ends Bolt's hold on 100 metres
For De Grasse, it was his sixth podium finish in his sixth individual final at an Olympics or world championships. He also won bronze in the 100 at 2015 and 2019 worlds, plus silver in the 200 in Rio and at worlds two years ago in Doha, Qatar.
WATCH | De Grasse finishes strong to earn 2nd bronze in Olympic 100m:
On Sunday, the 26-year-old was sensational over the final 30 metres but unable to catch Texas-born Italian Lamont Jacobs, who finished in a European record 9.80 in capturing Italy's first-ever 100-metre medal and ending Usain Bolt's 13-year hold on the event.
Bolt won the last of three consecutive 100 titles in 2016 before retiring the next year and setting the stage for a new king of sprinting. Very few people would have considered the 26-year-old Jacobs, who ran into the arms of teammate and high jumper Tamberi after the race.
Ditto for China's Su Bingtian, who added to an exciting semifinal round with a 9.83 clocking to shatter the Asian record and finish as the top qualifier for the final in a near-empty stadium. He placed sixth in the eight-man final in 9.98, the 31-year-old's ninth legal sub-10 second run of his career.
Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain was disqualified in the final for a false start, joining teammate Reece Prescod, who was DQ'd in Saturday's heats and Sunday's semifinals.
Among the biggest surprises on the track Sunday was American sprinter Trayvon Bromell's absence in the 100 final. He entered the Olympic competition with a 2021 world-leading 9.77 and won at U.S. trials in 9.80, but barely qualified for the semifinals in Tokyo in 10.05 before bowing out in 10-flat.
Venezuelan sets world record to win women's triple jump
Yulimar Rojas didn't even need to look for validation.
The runway, the take off, the way she hit the sand — it all felt so good she somehow knew she'd sealed her Olympic gold medal in the women's triple jump with a world record.
Rojas broke the Olympic record in the first round of Sunday's final, signalling her intent.
She went through four more rounds before putting it all together perfectly with a mark of 15.67 metres on her last attempt, improving on the old mark of 15.50 that Inessa Kravets of Ukraine set in 1995.
Patricia Mamona of Portugal took silver with a national record of 15.01. Ana Peleteiro, who trains with Rojas, set a Spanish record of 14.87 to win bronze.
WATCH | CBC Sports' Rob Pizzo offers fun facts about Canada's athletics team:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The Associated Press
