Brown wins Canadian 200 title to complete sweep
A night after Aaron Brown captured a thrilling men’s 100-metre title, the 200 metres had plenty of drama, as well — but for all the wrong reasons.
Brown won the 200 to complete the short-sprints sweep at the Canadian track-and-field championships on Saturday, but the field was missing Andre De Grasse to a hamstring injury and Gavin Smellie to an odd late falsestart call.
“I had to run against who’s in the field, and that’s exactly what I did,” Brown, of Toronto, said.
“I literally won by a nose (Friday) night in the 100, and I had a pretty comfortable win in the 200 and I’m pleased with it. I can build off this.”
Brown, who’d won the 100 by a thousandth of a second the previous night, led from the gun to capture the 200 crown, his fourth Canadian senior title, in 20.17 seconds.
Jerome Blake of Kelowna, B.C., was second in 20.38, while Mobolade Ajomale of Richmond Hill, Ont., won the bronze in 20.62.
De Grasse, the Canadian record-holder in the 200, had finished third in the 100 but pulled up with a hamstring injury in his 200 semifinal Saturday.
“I’m pulling for him and hope he recovers fast,” Brown said. “It’s been a tough season for him, and I never want to see a teammate go through that, because I know how tough that is.”
De Grasse, a triple Olympic medallist in 2016, has had a tough time in his comeback from the hamstring injury that knocked him out of last summer’s world championships.
Smellie, meanwhile, withdrew from the 200 final after having to run his semifinal twice.
The sprinter from Mississauga was in a semi that was called back for a false start, but the gun didn’t sound until the runners were already around the bend.
Smellie and two other runners ran the entire way, then had to compete in the rerun 45 minutes later.
Blake was racing the championships as a Canadian citizen for the first time.
Originally from Jamaica, he’d lived in Canada for seven years but didn’t race at the national meet because his lack of citizenship would have ruled him out of running the final.
“This year I got my citizenship, so I can fight for (national) teams now, which is nice, so that actually drove me to run as fast as I did today,” Blake said.
Brown, who recently dipped under the 20-second barrier for the first time, is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career.
“It’s great, I have the confidence of being a two-time Canadian champion in 2018, my third and fourth title; I’m trending in a positive way, my training is paying off and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and closing out strong,” said Brown, who will now return to the Diamond League circuit with a race in Monaco on July 20.