TORONTO – Canadian phenom Andre De Grasse sprinted to gold in the men’s 100-metre final at the 2015 Pan American Games.
The 20-year-old from Markham, Ont., ran a time of 10.05 seconds to win the finals in front of a packed stadium of his hometown fans.
READ MORE: Sprint phenom De Grasse wins 100, caps solid day for Canada at track
Ramon Gittens of the Barbados finished a close second with a time of 10.07. Antoine Adams of Saint Kitts and Nevis took the bronze with a time of 10.09.
“It was getting pretty tight,” said De Grasse discussing the extremely close finish. “I saw Ramon Gittens and I saw he was moving and I wasn’t getting to my next gear that I usually get, so I tried to lean. When I saw the poster was on me, I was like ‘ok, I think I won’.”
De Grasse had qualified for the final after he ran 9.97 seconds to win his semifinal, pulling away from his competition in the last 10 metres.
Following his gold medal performance De Grasse was all smiles as he carried the Canadian flag around the stadium at York University.
READ MORE: Canadian runners ‘doing phenomenal things’ at the Pan Am Games
De Grasse started running track seriously at 17, after being spotted at a high school track meet and later earned a scholarship to the University of Southern California. He recently won the 100 and 200-metre at the NCAA championships.
While it was a gold medal performance, the Canadian failed to beat his personal best time in the 100-metre of 9.97 seconds set in May. He became the first Canadian in 15 years to break the 10-second mark.
In June, the sprinter lowered his personal best to 9.75 in the 100m and 19.58 in the 200m at the NCAA Championships. However, according to the Canadian Olympic Committee both times were wind-aided, so they don’t count for official rankings or records.
The legal wind limit for both races is 2.00 metres per second.
*With files from Adam Frisk
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