PARIS – It was a quick, tough turnaround, but Andre De Grasse is now focused on what’s ahead.
The six-time Olympic medallist fell short of qualifying for the men’s 100-metre final on Sunday night, a first in his career at the Games, and quickly pivoted to running the opening round of the 200 on Monday.
De Grasse, from Markham, Ont., ran a time of 20.30 seconds to finish second to American Noah Lyles (20.19) in Heat 6 and book his ticket into Wednesday’s semifinals at Stade de France. The final is set for Thursday night.
“It was tough,” De Grasse said. “Of course you get the messages from family and back home and I tried to keep my phone on silent not to think about that because I was trying to shift my mind to the 200.
“Of course it’s always tough when you get those messages like, ‘It’s OK,’ and everyone’s trying to cheer you up but I just had to shake that off and keep my phone on silent and not really answer those messages until after.”
That wasn’t all that was tough for the 29-year-old De Grasse.
“I didn’t really get that much sleep last night, I guess I was so wired after the races,” he said. “I had to just meditate and just relax, lay in bed for a little longer after breakfast.
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“Today was tough to get up but at least now we got a day off tomorrow and then probably just do a shakeout, warm-up and get ready for the semifinals on Wednesday.”
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De Grasse is the reigning Olympic champion in the 200, setting a personal best of 19.62 seconds at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
He missed the 100 final on Sunday night, finishing fifth with a season-best time of 9.98 seconds in the semifinals. However, he has performed well in the 200 this year, demonstrating significant improvement after two years of injury and struggling to return to form.
He closed last season with his fourth-best time ever, 19.76 seconds, to win the Diamond League title in September.
Before the Olympics, he last ran the 200 at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix on July 9, where he won with a season-best 19.98 seconds. His coach, Rana Reider, told The Canadian Press that De Grasse ran ‘really conservative’ in that race.
“I always believe in myself, whether it’s the 100 or 200,” De Grasse said. “I work every single day to prepare for both events so for me I know it’s going to be a task, it’s not going to be a laydown.
“Of course you have the Americans, you have the kid from Botswana (Letsile Tebogo) so there’s a lot of people in that field that are going to bring their A-game, so I’ve got to make sure I’m on top of mine and just be ready for that moment.”
In the women’s 200, Audrey Leduc of Gatineau, Que., finished sixth in her semifinal and did not advance to Tuesday’s final. Jacqueline Madogo of Guelph, Ont., who won her repechage heat earlier Monday, placed seventh in the other semifinal and also failed to qualify for the final.
Earlier in the day, Alysha Newman advanced into her first Olympic women’s pole vault final. The 30-year-old from London, Ont., cleared 4.55 metres on her first attempt in qualifying action to advance.
Newman is the Canadian record holder at 4.83 metres and is in her third Olympics.
She has cleared 4.75-plus metres in three of her last four meets leading into the Paris Games after returning from an ankle injury suffered in March just before the world indoor championships.
“This is my first Olympic final and I think we can’t forget that in (2004), Dana Ellis finished sixth at Athens,” Newman said. “So I would like to walk around and say I’m one of the best of all time (in Canada) but she still has me beat on that.
“So I think deep down, I want her to know that she’s motivated me to get to this point and that I want to finish higher than she did because without her in the sport, I never would’ve saw those numbers to try and compete and get those bars again. So I’m really looking forward to the final.”
Saskatoon’s Anicka Newell did not qualify after failing to get over the bar on all three of her attempts at 4.55.
Jean-Simon Desgagnes also qualified for the men’s 3000 steeplechase final on Monday.
The 26-year-old from Quebec City finished fifth in Heat 3 with a time of eight minutes 25.28 seconds to take the last qualifying spot in his heat for Wednesday’s final.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2024.
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