Thursday is a big day for Canada at the World Athletics Championships
De Grasse in tough 200m semi; Rogers goes for hammer medal
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Through five days of competition in Budapest, Canada remains stuck at one medal: Ethan Katzberg's surprising gold in the men's hammer throw on Sunday. But that could change Thursday as Camryn Rogers, last year's women's hammer throw runner-up, looks poised for another podium after easily qualifying for her final today.
Rogers is one of several Canadian standouts either competing for a medal or trying to advance to the next round of their event on Thursday. Here, in chronological order, is who to watch in today's afternoon session:
Moh Ahmed in the men's 5,000m heats at 1 p.m. ET
Death, taxes and Moh finishing sixth in the 10,000m. One of life's great constants resurfaced Sunday when Ahmed achieved that result for the fourth consecutive time at a major championship.
You might take that as a good sign that the 32-year-old is ready to contend again in the 5,000m (his best event) after placing fifth at last year's world championships. Ahmed took silver at the 2021 Olympics and bronze at the 2019 worlds, both times pairing it with a (yep) sixth in the 10,000m.
The 5,000m final goes Sunday.
Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney in the men's 200m semifinals at 2:20 p.m. ET
All three of Canada's entries made it through today's opening-round heats. With the top three in each automatically advancing, the reigning Olympic champion De Grasse (20.28 seconds) placed second in his heat to 2022 bronze medallist Erriyon Knighton of the United States. Brown (20.08) was also second, to Britain's Zharnel Hughes, who posted the only sub-20 time today after taking bronze in the 100m on Sunday. Rodney (20.14) won his relatively weak heat.
Defending champion Noah Lyles of the United States won his heat in a comfortable 20.05 and remains favoured to win his third straight 200m world title. After capturing his first 100m gold on Sunday, Lyles can become the first athlete since Usain Bolt in 2015 to complete the sprint double at the world championships.
The times are going to get faster and the competition more fierce in the semis, where only the top two in each heat automatically advance, plus two overall wild cards. Rodney will run alongside Lyles in Heat 1. Brown faces a couple of heavyweights in Heat 2 in American Kenny Bednarek (last year's silver medallist) and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (the 100m silver medallist on Sunday and owner of the second-best 200m time of the year, behind Lyles). To grab an automatic spot in the final out of Heat 3, De Grasse will have to defeat at least one of Knighton and Hughes.
De Grasse has come through in the clutch so many times. And he might do it again in Budapest. But there's little evidence to suggest he's an individual medal contender right now. He failed to qualify for the 100m event, and his season-best time of 20.01 seconds in the 200 ranks 20th in the world.
No Canadians are competing in the women's 200m, where all eyes will once again be on Sha'Carri Richardson for the semifinals on Thursday at 1:45 p.m. ET. The American ran the fastest overall time in today's heats as she looks to complete the sprint double after winning her first 100m world title on Monday.
Defending 200m champ (and Monday's 100m silver medallist) Shericka Jackson of Jamaica also won her heat. So did American Gabby Thomas, the 2021 bronze medallist who missed last year's worlds due to injury but bounced back to defeat Richardson for the 200m title at last month's U.S. championships with a time of 21.60 — the fastest in the world this year.
Camryn Rogers in the women's hammer throw final at 2:26 p.m. ET
The world No. 2 looks for her second consecutive major podium after taking silver at last year's world championships. Rogers, 24, can also give Canada a sweep of the hammer throw gold medals in Budapest after Katzberg's stunning men's victory on Sunday. But that's a tall order with defending champ Brooke Andersen of the United States owning the five best throws of the year.
Marco Arop in the men's 800m semis at 2:50 p.m. ET
The towering 2022 bronze medallist has his sights set on becoming the best in the world at one of track's most demanding events. He sure looked like a title contender in his opening-round heat on Tuesday, winning it comfortably. Despite slowing up near the end, Arop posted the second-best overall time, behind Kenyan teenager Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
Arop, who will run in the second semifinal heat, won't have to worry about reigning world and Olympic champion Emmanuel Korir. The Kenyan, who's been plagued by a calf injury, failed to advance after placing fourth in his heat.
The final goes Saturday.
Something else to know from today:
For the second straight year, Olympic men's 1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen was upset in the world-championship final by a British runner. Last year, the Norwegian favourite settled for silver behind Jake Wightman, who's out for this season with a foot injury. This time, Josh Kerr beat a tiring Ingebrigtsen to the finish line in the 3¾-lap race.
Read more about some of today's top events and watch highlights here.
How to watch:
All events at the world championships, from qualifying rounds through finals, are being streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBCSports.ca. Thursday's coverage runs from 12:50-4:10 p.m. ET. See the full streaming schedule here and the official event schedule here.
For more news, insight and analysis, look for new episodes of Athletics North with host Rob Pizzo every day on the CBC Sports YouTube channel and CBCSports.ca.
