Arop starts strong, De Grasse under pressure at track worlds
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The 2022 men’s 800-metre bronze medallist began his push for gold today in Budapest by comfortably winning his opening-round heat to advance to the semifinals. Despite slowing up near the end, Arop posted the second-best overall time, behind Kenyan teenager Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
Reigning world and Olympic champion Emmanuel Korir of Kenya, hampered by a calf injury this season, failed to advance after placing fourth in his heat. The semifinals go Thursday and the final Saturday.
WATCH l Edmonton’s Marco Arop easily qualifies into the men’s 800m semifinals:
Edmonton’s Marco Arop wins his heat and easily qualifies into the men’s 800m semifinals with a time of 1:45.05 the second fastest time overall.
In other notable Canadian results from Day 4, Jean-Simon Desgagnés placed eighth in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase final while promising 400m hurdler Savannah Sutherland was eliminated in the semifinals in her world championships debut. Michelle Harrison qualified for the semis in the women’s 100 hurdles.
In the marquee event of the day, Kenyan star Faith Kipyegon won the women’s 1,500m world title for the third time. The back-to-back Olympic champion and world-record holder has not lost a 1,500m race in two years. Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji took silver while the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan made a late charge to grab bronze after losing her 10,000m title on Saturday when she fell while leading with about 20 metres left.
Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim’s bid for a fourth straight world title in the men’s high jump was denied by his Italian pal Gianmarco Tamberi — the guy Barshim agreed to share the Olympic gold with in 2021. Tamberi won his first world championship while American JuVaughn Harrison took silver and Barshim got the bronze. Read more about today’s most interesting events and watch highlights here.
WATCH l Saskatoon’s Michelle Harrision hurdles her way to the semifinal round:
Saskatoon’s Michelle Harrision hurdled her way to a time of 12.88 securing a spot in the semifinal round of 100 metre hurdles at the world championships in Budapest.
What to watch on Wednesday:
200m heats (women’s at 5:20 a.m. ET, men’s at 6:15 a.m. ET)
After their victories in the 100m, Americans Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson can each become the first athlete since Usain Bolt in 2015 to complete the sprint double at the world championships. Lyles is also trying to become just the third person to win three consecutive 200m world titles, after Bolt (who took four in a row) and Allyson Felix.
For many of the best sprinters, the opening-round heats are basically a warmup for the more-competitive semifinals on Thursday and final on Friday. But there’s extra pressure on reigning Olympic champion Andre De Grasse, who failed to qualify for the 100m event and hasn’t looked great in the 200m this year either. The 28-year-old’s season-best time of 20.01 seconds (to win the Canadian championship last month) has been bettered by 19 other runners, including fellow Canadian Aaron Brown (20.00).
The top three in each heat automatically advance to the semifinals. De Grasse will run in Heat 6 at 6:50 a.m. ET against American phenom Erriyon Knighton, the bronze medallist last year. Brown’s toughest foe in Heat 1 is European champion Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain, who’s coming off a bronze in the 100m on Sunday. Lyles is in Heat 2, 100m silver medallist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana is in Heat 3, Canada’s Brendon Rodney is in Heat 4 and 2022 silver medallist Kenny Bednarek of the United States is in Heat 7.
The women’s event is headlined by Richardson (Heat 2), defending champion and 100m silver medallist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica (Heat 3), and 2021 Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas (Heat 5). Thomas missed last year’s worlds due to injury but defeated Richardson to win the 200m title at last month’s U.S. championships with a time of 21.60 — the fastest in the world this year.
Women’s hammer throw qualifying at 1 p.m. ET
Canada’s Camryn Rogers, ranked No. 2 in the world, looks for her second consecutive worlds podium after taking silver last year. The 24-year-old can also give Canada a sweep of the hammer throw gold medals after Ethan Katzberg’s surprising men’s victory on Sunday. But that might be tough with defending champion Brooke Andersen of the United States owning the five best throws of the year.
The final round goes Thursday.
Men’s 1,500m final at 3:15 p.m. ET
The man to beat is Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen. He won Olympic gold in 2021 and took silver at last year’s worlds behind Britain’s Jake Wightman, who’s out for the season with a foot injury.
The other finals Wednesday are the women’s pole vault (1:30 p.m. ET), women’s 400m (3:35 p.m. ET) and men’s 400m hurdles (3:50 p.m. ET).
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. Wednesday’s coverage runs from 4-7:45 a.m. ET and 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.
