Weekend recap: Andre De Grasse starts his season with 2 wins
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The country’s biggest track star kicked off his season, a top thrower reached the podium and a marathon record holder failed to qualify for the Olympics. Here’s a look at the most notable results for Canada’s Summer Olympic athletes over the weekend:
Andre De Grasse won his first two races of the season.
After doing a few indoor 60m events over the winter, the reigning Olympic 200m champion opened his outdoor campaign at the East Coast Relays in Jacksonville, Fla., where he lives and trains.
On Friday night, De Grasse ran a wind-aided 20.11 seconds in the 200m. That was the fastest time among all 15 heats, though the competition wasn’t very stiff.
On Saturday, De Grasse clocked a wind-legal 10.11 in the 100m to clip reigning Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy in a photo finish for the fastest overall time. Two-time world championship bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell was third in 10.14. De Grasse, Jacobs and Bromell train together in Jacksonville under coach Rana Reider.
De Grasse struggled for much of the past two seasons before winning the 200m at the Diamond League Final last September in 19.76 — his best time since 2021. The six-time Olympic medallist has set his sights high for this year, aiming to reach the podium in the 100, 200 and 4×100 for the third consecutive Summer Games and even break the Canadian 100m record of 9.84 seconds shared by Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin.
It’s hard to gauge De Grasse’s 200m performance on Friday because of the strong tailwind. But his 10.11 in the 100 was his best time in nearly two years. He’ll still need to get down to 10 seconds to qualify for the Olympics in the 100 (he’s already met the 200 standard), but this was a good start.
De Grasse is expected to compete in the 4×100 at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas this weekend.
Sarah Mitton took silver in the Diamond League.
After placing fourth in a stacked season opener two weekends ago in Xiamen, China, Canada’s top shot putter improved to second at Saturday’s meet near Shanghai. Mitton, the silver medallist at last year’s world championships, finished behind back-to-back worlds gold medallist Chase Jackson of the United States. Reigning Olympic champ Gong Lijiao of China was fourth after winning the opener.
Mitton, who beat Jackson to capture the indoor world title last month, was happy with the result despite feeling “disconnected” in her first two outdoor events of the season. “It’s early in the season and some of the technical pieces of my throw are still a work in progress,” she said.
The only other Canadian in the meet was women’s steeplechaser Regan Yee, who finished ninth after placing eighth the week before. She needs to lower her time by a few seconds to reach the Olympic standard.
International standouts included Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who won for the second straight week after breaking his own world record in Xiamen; and South African sprinter Akani Simbine, who won the men’s 100m in 10.01 to beat former world champions Christian Coleman (10.04) and Fred Kerley (10.11) of the United States.
Reigning women’s 100m world champion and 200m bronze medallist Sha’Carri Richardson suffered her second consecutive upset in the 200. In Xiamen, the American star finished second behind Australian teenager Torrie Lewis. This time, she was third behind winner Daryll Neita of Great Britain.
Read more about the Shanghai meet in this story by CBC Sports’ Doug Harrison. The next Diamond League stop is May 10 in Doha.
Natasha Wodak missed out on the Olympics.
With her qualifying window about to close, the Canadian women’s marathon record holder’s last chance to earn a spot in Paris was Sunday in Hamburg. Needing a time of two hours, 26 minutes, 50 seconds (about 3½ minutes off her Canadian record of 2:23:12), Wodak could muster only a 2:30:24 as quad and abdominal issues derailed her run.
“That’s marathoning for you,” Wodak said. “This sport can be amazing but also cruel.” Very cruel: the Olympic qualifying window opened just five weeks after Wodak broke her friend Malindi Elmore’s Canadian record in September 2022 in Berlin. Elmore, 44, is the only Canadian women’s marathoner who has met the Paris qualifying standard.
Canadian men’s marathon record holder Cam Levins will also be going to Paris. He came within 20 seconds of his own national half-marathon record on Sunday, clocking 1:00:38 seconds to finish eighth in his race in Turkey.
Other top Canadian results from the weekend:
* Golfers Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin teamed up for a 10th-place finish at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a two-man event won by Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Ireland’s Shane Lowry. Taylor, ranked 27th in the world, and Hadwin, ranked 48th, have been pals since they were kids in Abbotsford, B.C. They’re on track to grab Canada’s likely two entries in this summer’s Olympic men’s tournament, but 51st-ranked Corey Conners is not far behind Hadwin with about a month and a half left in the qualifying window. Conners and fellow Canadian Taylor Pendrith tied for 11th at the Zurich Classic.
* Judokas Shady Elnahas and Arthur Margelidon won gold while top-ranked Christa Deguchi was also among the Canadian medallists at the Pan American and Oceania Championships in Brazil. Deguchi, ranked No. 1 in the world in the women’s 57kg weight class, took silver after losing her final to former Olympic champion Rafaela Silva of Brazil. Margelidon is ranked seventh in the men’s 73kg class while Elnahas is fifth in the men’s 100kg.
