HOW LOW CAN HE GO?
Fans were hoping for a Canadian record from Andre De Grasse at the nationals,
“It’s humbling to try and bring back the sport after Donovan, Bruny and those guys.” ANDRE DE GRASSE ON A TRACK RESURGENCE
OTTAWA— Before he walked on to the track Friday night to claim his third Canadian 100-metre title, Andre De Grasse knew exactly what the crowd really wanted to see.
Just that morning as he was leaving breakfast, he was asked to pose for a photo with a father and son who told him they drove all the way from Nova Scotia just to see him run.
“My third Canadian title in the 100, it’s an amazing feeling to be so consistent, back-to-back-to-back years, I’m really happy about that,” De Grasse said, just after his win at the Canadian Track & Field Championships.
His winning time — 10.11 seconds — he was a little less happy about.
“I can’t exactly tell you what happened,” he said, noting that he had wanted to run below 10 seconds. “I felt like I was ready to run a fast time and I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t give the crowd what they wanted.”
Brendon Rodney, who was part of Canada’s bronze-medal winning 4x100 relay team at the Rio Olympics, came second in 10.18. Veteran sprinter Gavin Smellie, who is in the midst of a strong season, was third in 10.23.
The women’s race was a double victory for Toronto’s Crystal Emmanuel, who retained her 100 title and posted an 11.20 time that qualified her for the world championships in London next month.
“We’re going to go out and show the world we belong,” she said.
That attitude of wanting to be the best in the world, not just in Canada, was evident when Smellie, who almost certainly booked his trip to London, was angry after his race on the rain-soaked track at Terry Fox Stadium.
“Not a good time,” Smellie said. “I’m so upset, I’m so much better than that.”
What track fans flocked here hoping to see this week — the sub-10 100 and sub-20 200 times that electrify track meets — was always going to be hard for De Grasse to pull off. Not like trying to beat Usain Bolt at the world championships in London next month will be, but hard in a different way.
De Grasse is a playoffs guy, he’s mentally built for the big show — that’s part of what makes him so good when it really counts.
And for an athlete who has three Olympic sprint medals, owns the Canadian record in the 200, is closing in on the national record in the100, and speaks about his ambitions to beat Bolt, this event is not the big show.
But the 22-year-old from Markham is a proud Canadian and he wants to run well at home when people are watching.
“It’s really important for me,” De Grasse said when he arrived Wednesday.
“(To) get a chance to represent on home soil.”
De Grasse helped revive national interest in track with his sub-10 second runs in 2015, which marked the first time a Canadian man had run that fast since the 1990s.
“It’s an honour, it’s humbling to be the guy to try and bring back the sport after 20 years since Donovan (Bailey), Bruny (Surin) and those guys,” De Grasse said.
“I’m definitely just trying to carry the torch and we’ve got a couple other guys that are doing well in the sprints, so I feel like we have a great shot with them.”
De Grasse has been such a public draw that track and field is even coming back to Toronto next summer with the NACAC senior championships, which includes athletes from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
There hasn’t been anything that big in track in the city since 2009 when Bolt came as part of the track festival that commanded prices up to $250 a ticket.
“(De Grasse) wants to build Canadian athletics, Canadian sprinting, (put) Canadians on the map and it’s been his number one thing,” said Glenroy Gilbert, the head coach of Canada’s world championship team who worked with De Grasse for several years as part of the men’s 4x100 relay.
“I don’t know a guy that enjoys wearing the Canadian bodysuit and kit as much as Andre, I find it absolutely amazing. It’s good to see.”
De Grasse made waves on the Diamond League in Stockholm in June when he ran a heavily wind-aided, therefore unofficial, time of 9.69, well below the Canadian record of 9.84.
His best time this season is 10.01but he’s been able to easily separate from the other runners to win his races, which gives his coach Stuart McMillan confidence that things are going well and the fast times will come when the conditions are right.
“It’s all about weather, wind and he hasn’t really had a good one yet,” he said.