Andre De Grasse advances to 200m final
Pan Am 100m champ going for 2nd gold
Andre De Grasse has earned a shot at his second gold medal of the Pan Am Games.
- RESULTS: Men's 200m semifinal
- Andre De Grasse wins gold in men's 100m
- RESULTS: Men's 200m heats
- STARTLIST: Men's 200m final
- VIDEO: De Grasse ready for the 200-final
The 20-year-old from Markham, Ont., finished third in his 200-metre semifinal on Thursday evening to qualify for Friday's final.
Andre De Grasse qualifies for the 200m finals with a time of 20.12 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBCPanAm?src=hash">#CBCPanAm</a> <a href="http://t.co/EeqLyDFtd8">http://t.co/EeqLyDFtd8</a>
—@cbcsportsDe Grasse posted a time of 20.12 seconds and appeared to show some signs of fatigue after winning gold in the 100m on Wednesday night. He finished behind Alonso Edward of Panama and Roberto Skyers of Cuba, who both qualified for the final with a time of 20.09 seconds.
De Grasse owns the Canadian record in the 200m with a time of 20.03 seconds. Earlier Thursday, he finished first in his qualifying heat with a time of 20.17 seconds, easily advancing to the semifinals.
"Not in my best shape right now, but right now, it's not about how I feel but how bad I want it. So I didn't want to try and give it away," De Grasse said after the semi. "But I'm going to try and come back, get some treatment, get some rest, and get ready for the 200-metre final [Friday]."
In the other semifinal, Canada's Brandon Rodney failed to move onto the final, finishing fourth with a time of 20.29 seconds. Jamaican Rasheed Dwyer won that heat and set a Pan Am record time of 19.80 seconds.
Jamaican Rasheed Dwyer sets a Pan Am record in the 200m semis with a time of 19.80 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBCPanAm?src=hash">#CBCPanAm</a> <a href="http://t.co/ZNeA7mq8tS">http://t.co/ZNeA7mq8tS</a>
—@cbcsportsDe Grasse leaned on a railing breathing heavily as he spoke to reporters moments after his race — his fifth run so far of the Pan Am Games.
He opted to run both sprints, plus the 4x100 relay here, but isn't peaking for Pan Ams since his main goal is next month's world championships in Beijing.
"I've been training hard these last couple of weeks, my coach told me my main goal is the world championships, so right now I'm supposed to feel like this, I'm not supposed to be at my best," De Grasse said. "But I still want to try and come out here and medal, so I'll give it my all in the finals."
De Grasse could skip the heats of the 4x100 or take a pass on the relay altogether.
"I'm going to talk to my coach about it, see how I feel," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
With files from The Canadian Press