Canadian relay team takes bronze after U.S. disqualified
BEIJING — Canada captured three more medals on a thrilling night at the world track and field championships on Saturday, and now boasts an all-time best total of seven with one day to go.
Canada’s relay squad — Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Andre De Grasse and Justyn Warner — was on the right side of a disqualification for once, earning bronze in the 4x100 metres after the U.S. was disqualified.
The drama brought the curtain down on a night that saw Damian Warner break his Canadian record in the decathlon en route to silver and Melissa Bishop race to silver in the 800 metres, Canada’s best-ever result in the event.
The relay result was redemption for the Canadians, who were denied a gold medal at last month’s Pan Am Games for a disqualification. They were also DQ’ed at the IAAF World Relays, last summer’s Commonwealth Games and the 2012 London Olympics, costing the team a bronze medal. The Canadians lingered on the track watching the scoreboard, knowing all too well how results can change.
“It was nice,” Justyn Warner said. “Peter [Eriksson, Canada’s head coach] told us to stay down on the track, there might have been a DQ. We’re happy, we’re blessed to come away with a bronze for our country, make our country proud.”
The result gives De Grasse, a rising star from Markham, Ont., two medals at his first world championships. The 20-year-old also took bronze in the men’s 100 metres.
“I had an amazing season,” said De Grasse, who ran the second leg. “I was talking to my teammate Akeem [Haynes], he said: ‘One more run, one more run, just give it all you’ve got.’ To end it like that, my last run, I’m just happy we came out of here with a bronze.”
Usain Bolt and the mighty Jamaicans thundered to gold in 37.36 seconds. China was second.
Moments earlier, Damian Warner, 25, from London, Ont., had scored 8,695 points to break the Canadian record of 8,659 he set a month earlier winning gold at the Pan American Games.
Heading into the 1,500, the decathlon’s final event, Warner set a target of 8,700 points.
“I was a little baby, didn’t run it as hard as I should have,” he said afterward. “Now I’m seeing that I was five points off and it’s hurting me a little bit.
“There was just something about it that my legs just didn’t want to co-operate,” he added. “But I broke the Canadian record once again and I can’t really complain.”
American Ashton Eaton — husband of Canada’s heptathlon silver medallist Brianne Theisen-Eaton — won the gold, scoring 9,045 points to break his own world record. Germany’s Rico Freimuth took bronze with 8,561 points.
Warner’s coach Gar Leyshon praised the Canadian’s performance coming off the Pan Am Games, where he shattered Mike Smith’s 19-year-old Canadian record. Decathlons are like marathons — athletes only compete in one or two a year, and never close together.
Bishop won the 800 silver in one minute 58.12 seconds in a battle down the homestretch. The race capped a spectacular week for Bishop, 27, from Eganville, Ont., and a remarkable turnaround after missing most of the winter with a series of setbacks.
“There was a lot of crying,” Bishop said, of her rough early season. “I give credit to Dennis [Fairall, her coach] again. He’s a very patient man and just such a wonderful coach.
“I’m going to get emotional now,” she said, holding back tears. “It’s just so special for the two of us because we came from a really low spot this January, and we worked really hard for this.”