TORONTO – Sprinter Andre De Grasse is looking to add to Canada’s Pan Am Games medal count after winning gold in the men’s 100m track event Wednesday.
The Markham, Ont., native took the gold with a time of 10.05 seconds, narrowly beating Ramon Gittens of Barbados who finished with a time of 10.07 seconds.
READ MORE: Sprint phenom De Grasse wins 100, caps solid day for Canada at track
“Somehow, I just managed to pull off the win,” the 20-year-old track sensation said. “I had no pressure, my family and friends told me that no matter what happens, they are still proud of me. It has been a long season, and to do this, it is a wonderful feeling right now.”
Although it wasn’t his best race, it was the young athlete’s first senior-level track meet.
De Grasse is also racing in Thursday’s 200m and the 4×100m relay on Friday.
In May, De Grasse recorded a personal best time in the 100m of 9.97 seconds, becoming 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.
READ MORE: Canadian runners ‘doing phenomenal things’ at the Pan Am Games
The legal wind limit for both 100m and 200m is 2.00m/sec.
Next month, De Grasse will take on the big guns Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt at the world championships in Beijing.
De Grasse started running track seriously at 17, after being spotted at a high school track meet and later earning a scholarship to the University of Southern California.
De Grasse is poised to break the Canadian record of 9.84 seconds shared by Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin.
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