Andre De Grasse fails to qualify for Olympic 200-metre final
Paris –
Andre De Grasse will not be defending his Olympic title in the men’s 200-metre final.
The 29-year-old from Markham, Ont., finished third in his semifinal at 20.41 seconds Wednesday at Stade de France.
He was officially eliminated for Thursday’s final when the third and fourth finishers in the next semifinal finished with better times.
De Grasse won gold in the event at the Tokyo Games with a personal best of 19.62 seconds.
The six-time Olympic medallist also missed the 100-metre final on Sunday, the first time in his career that he missed an Olympic final in the 100, 200 or 4×100 relay final.
He ran a season-best time of 9.98 seconds in the 100 semifinal but finished fifth in his heat.
Earlier, Moh Ahmed did not advance to the 5,000-metre final after tripping in his heat.
The 33-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., was in the top seven with about 400 metres left in the race when he seemingly tripped over the leg of a runner in front of him and took a fall. A handful of other runners fell not long after in a similar fashion.
The top eight from each of the two qualifying heats on Wednesday advance to Saturday’s final.
Ahmed, who earned silver in the event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, got up and continued running but finished 16th with a time of 14 minutes 15.76 seconds. He finished fourth in the men’s 10,000-metre final last Friday.
Ahmed did not speak to media following the race. In a statement provided to The Canadian Press, Athletics Canada said Ahmed would not be able to be “reinstated” after a review.
“Unfortunately, while running in the pack Moh stood on the ankle of an athlete in front of him, which caused him to fall. We have watched the video several times with the WA (World Athletics) Video Referee and it was clear that Moh was not impeded or jostled before this happened and so it is considered his responsibility to avoid the athlete in front.
“In these circumstances he could not be reinstated.”
Thomas Fafard of Repentigny, Que., did advance in eighth place in Heat 1 with a time of 14:09.37 at Stade de France.
In the men’s 800, Edmonton’s Marco Arop qualified for Friday’s semifinals finishing second in Heat 1 with a time of 1:45.74. Arop is the reigning world champion in the event.
Mariam Abdul-Rashid of Oshawa, Ont., made it into the women’s 100 hurdles semifinals grabbing one of three non-automatic qualifying spots with a time of 12.80 seconds and placing fifth in Heat 3.
