De Grasse has Bolt in his sights
ON TRACK: Canadian sprinter posts fastest time in 200-metre qualifying heats
Andre De Grasse says he messed up badly halfway through the men’s 100-metre final on Sunday night and cost himself a shot at Olympic gold.
A chance at redemption is at hand after the Markham, Ont., sprinting sensation posted the fastest qualifying time (20.09 seconds) in Tuesday morning’s 200-metre heats at the Olympic Stadium.
First overall on the board and he didn’t have a clue.
“I was? I didn’t even know that,” De Grasse said as he walked through the mixed zone. “I was just trying to execute the first part of the race and relax coming home.”
Doing his best Usain Bolt impression, De Grasse looked left and right in Heat 10 and realized he was all alone in front.
“I saw I had a clear view,” he said. “No one was with me. I just wanted to shut it down and get ready for tomorrow.”
The 200-metre semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday night, followed by the final on Thursday night.
“Oh, I’m feeling great,” De Grasse, 21, said with a shrug. “I actually wasn’t sore after the 100 metres. I felt like I could have done a lot better in the 100 two days ago. You know, I feel like I could have run 9.8 that day.”
Bolt won his third consecutive 100-metre gold medal that day in 9.81 seconds. Justin Gatlin of the United States was second in 9.89 seconds. De Grasse won bronze with a personal best of 9.91 seconds in a race he says he “executed poorly.”
“Now I’m just going to try to save that energy that I had for the 100 to come towards the 200,” he said. “I’m still feeling confident. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a challenge again.”
Make no mistake: Bolt is in his sights.
“He’s incredible,” De Grasse said of the champ.
“But I’m looking forward to the task. I feel like I can keep up with him better in this race.”
A weary Bolt jogged to a first-place finish in the ninth heat in 20.28 seconds, the 15th fastest time of the day.
“It’s just a heat,” Bolt said. “It’s the morning session and I’m not an early morning person. So I just came out here to qualify and that’s what I did. I’m feeling a little bit tired, but it’s expected ... I see a lot of the young guys trying to run fast in the heat, but for me it is important to win to qualify. I didn’t really run that hard out there.”
In a blazing fast third heat, Toronto’s Aaron Brown led for most of the way until Bahrain’s Salem Eid Yaqoob overtook him with 10 metres to go. Ramil Guliyev of Turkey clipped Brown at the line in a photo finish. Brown drew lane two and he couldn’t see what was happening around him as he willed his legs to keep churning over the last 50 metres.
“Keep going,” he told himself in one of those life-defining sequences that slowed down in his head. “Don’t tighten up. Finish. God help me. Get me to the line. Please. Anything.”
After an agonizing wait, Brown learned he had advanced based on time (10.23) to Wednesday’s semifinal.
“I wanted to make sure I gave a performance I would be happy about after the 100,” Brown said. “I was disappointed in myself. I know I’m better than that. So I just wanted to leave the track today happy with my performance and that’s exactly what I am.”
Brendon Rodney, of Brampton, Ont., beat both De Grasse and Brown in the 200 metres at the Canadian trials last month, but he just missed out on advancing here (20.23 seconds).
De Grasse owns the Canadian record in the 200 metres (19.88 seconds). He plans to better that in the coming days in Rio.
“I think I can have a personal best,” he said. “I don’t want to put limits and say a time, but it’s definitely going to be a great run if I can execute my race.”