De Grasse’s success lit a fire under sprint teammate Brown
Toronto native clocked in at 9.96 seconds in his last 100-metre heat, writes Rob Longley.
It’s not exactly a threat, given that Canadian speedster sprinters Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse have a long history together as teammates.
But it certainly comes as a warning from Brown that he intends to join his suddenly more heralded sprinting compatriot among the world elite.
“He knows I’m coming,” Brown said this week. “He knows I’m hungry.”
Why the bravado and warning from the 24-year-old Brown, a Toronto native who has been hanging around the fringes of high-end sprinting for the past couple of years? Unless you are a hard-core track fan, you might have missed the blazing news from Florida last weekend.
It was there that Brown outduelled American star Tyson Gay in a heat of the Star Athletics Meet in Montverde, Fla., and stopped the clock in 9.96 seconds. Not only did Brown finally crack the benchmark 10-second barrier that all young sprinters aspire to, he became just the fourth Canadian to do so. (Excluding Ben Johnson, whose times have been wiped due to drug violations.)
And perhaps most significantly, for Brown, it was a direct response to De Grasse and his breakthrough 2015 season that included a bronze medal at the world championship in Beijing and a personal best of 9.92.
“He did light a fire under me,” Brown said of his former USC teammate. “Seeing another Canadian come taking the world by storm — I was never against him because he’s still my friend. But I wanted to be on that level.
“For so many years I had dreams of bringing Canada back to the national spotlight. I wanted to put Canada back on the map and the way that he did it was exactly how I pictured it.”
The breakthrough by Brown has all sorts of implications for Canadian sprinting. For starters, it’s the first time since the late 1990s that two active runners had sub-10s on their resume — Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey. It also signals a potential rivalry with De Grasse, setting up a showdown at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Edmonton on July 7.
The race in Florida has changed so much mentally for Brown, who currently trains in the Sunshine State with former U.S. Olympian Dennis Mitchell, who also coaches U.S. star, Justin Gatlin.
“First and foremost, it was a relief,” said Brown, who is Canada’s top-ranked 200-metre runner and plans to contest in that event at both the Canadian trials and in Rio. “I’ve been chasing it for so long, running so close for years. To finally break through is a weight off my shoulders. If I have any hopes of making the Olympic final, sub-10 is mandatory. To be able to do that at this point of the season is encouraging and does a lot for my confidence going into (Canadian) trials.” Brown said “having Tyson in the lane beside me and knowing I could keep up with him, I knew I was in a good place.”
At the Canadian Trials, it isn’t essential to beat De Grasse to qualify for Rio — a top-two finish punches his Olympic ticket.