De Grasse fan Eddy makes memorable debut in 100m

TEENAGE para athlete Eddy Bernard’s idol is world sprinter Andre De Grasse of Canada.

De Grasse is an able-bodied athlete who won the silver in the men’s 200m and bronzes in the 100m and 4x100m relay at last year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Inspired by his idol’s achievement at the Olympics, the 16-year-old Sabahan ensured himself a golden debut at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Eddy clocked a personal best of 12.45 seconds to win the men’s 100m T37 (cerebral palsy) final. His previous best was 12.65, which he did at the East Malaysian Athletics Championships in Kuching in August last year.

Malaysia enjoyed a 1-2 finish as another Sabahan Jacklon Ganding, who finished fourth in Singapore two years ago, clocked 12.48 for the silver.

Defending champion Le Van Manh of Vietnam clocked 12.68 for the bronze.

Eddy, who has been training for the Games for the past one year, is clearly a huge De Grasse fan.

“I like the way he runs. He is such a cool sprinter. I get motivated when I watch him run. I believe he is going to be the next world champion,” said Eddy, who is thrilled to bits with his own efforts.

“I’m still young and I believe I can go much faster. My teammate and friend Jacklon pushed me all the way in the race.

“I’m happy we both clocked personal bests in the race,” added Eddy, a Form Four Student of SMK Beluran in Sandakan.

The 18-year-old Jacklon’s previous best was 13.01, which he did at the 2015 Singapore Games.

Eddy said that winning the gold in the Asean Para Games “is a good start to my athletics career”.

“I just need to stay focused and train harder,” said Eddy, who hopes to bag his second gold in the long jump today.

“I will go all out to improve on my personal best of 5.71m, which I did in a competition in Kuching last year.”