DE GRASSE WINS IN 10.11
National 100-metre champ for three years running
Andre De Grasse gave credit to the Ottawa crowd.
After sprinting to his third consecutive national 100-metre title with a time of 10.11 seconds on Friday in front of a packed stadium of 5,500 fans at the Terry Fox facility, De Grasse said the spectators played a major role in his victory.
Typically, De Grasse pumps himself up in the moments before races by listening to music on the track.
But that wasn’t possible Friday because he forgot his headphones at his hotel.
“I had no music today, so I had to depend on the crowd just to be my music,” he said.
“I’m really grateful, to come out here and be healthy and get my third Canadian title in the 100. It’s an amazing feeling, to be so consistent in back-to-back-toback years.”
Truth be told, De Grasse wasn’t ecstatic about his winning time, narrowly edging Brendon Rodney (10.18) and Gavin Smellie (10.23).
He was hoping to break the 10-second barrier and to possibly challenge the Canadian record of 9.84, held jointly by Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin. His personal best is the 9.91 he ran last year at the Rio Olympics.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly what happened,” he said. “I ran the semi (finals). I felt like I was ready to run a fast time. I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t give the crowd what they wanted. At the same time, I’m happy I came out here and won the title.”
De Grasse won the Olympic bronze in the 100 metres and silver in the 200 metres to become Canada’s poster boy at Rio last summer. He completed his triple-medal haul by anchoring Canada’s 4x100m relay team to a bronze.
De Grasse will get one last shot to go after Jamaican star Usain Bolt at the world championships in London in August. Bolt will retire this year.
De Grasse is optimistic he can follow in Bolt’s footsteps as the next great international sprinter.
Yet on Friday, it was all about performing at home, showing a national crowd what he’s all about.
While the final was run with the sun setting, the weather threatened to rain on De Grasse’s parade after a late-afternoon downpour extended into the evening. The rain stopped at 6 p.m., 30 minutes before the semifinal, and the track dried up as the night went on.
De Grasse wasn’t using the conditions as an explanation for not cracking the 10-second barrier.
“I didn’t let the rain distract me,” he said. “The rain stopped. The sun started coming out for the finals, so I felt really good. I didn’t really think about it too much.”
After receiving a bye from Thursday’s qualifying rounds, De Grasse easily advanced to the final by winning his semifinal heat with a time of 10.16.
Aaron Brown, who joined De Grasse as part of Canada’s 4x100 bronze medal-winning relay team in Rio, was disqualified for jumping the gun in his semifinal heat.
De Grasse will be back in action Saturday. The 200-metre semifinals are scheduled for 1:15 p.m. The 200-metre final is slated for noon on Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to getting my first (national) title there, definitely going to try and go sub20 (seconds),” he said.
In the women’s 100-metre final Friday, Crystal Emmanuel held on to her national title with a personal best of 11.20, beating out Leya Buchanan, who captured the silver with a time of 11.45.
“You guys are a great crowd and I got a great outcome,” Emmanuel told the Terry Fox crowd following her victory.
Before the main event, Eganville’s Melissa Bishop easily advanced through the semifinal to the women’s 800-metre final.
Bishop, who won a Pan Am gold medal in 2015, finished fourth in Rio and is the only Canadian woman to break the two-minute mark, picked up the pace down the stretch to win her semifinal heat.
A former member of the Ottawa Lions, she acknowledged having some nerves at the outset.
“There have been a lot of close supporters that have been on this journey with me for a long time and they finally got to see me race at home, so it’s really special,” she said.
While she’s the unquestioned favourite for gold in the final Saturday night, she says the stress never goes away.
“My spot is still on the line,” Bishop said. “I haven’t booked my ticket to London (for the world championships) yet, until I’m top-three (Saturday).” kwarren@postmedia.com Twitter.com/ Citizenkwarren