Canadian men are picking up speed
Last year’s winning time in 100 would have earned eighth place this year
“The current crop is amazing. They might be more talented overall than we were as a team.” DONOVAN BAILEY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST
EDMONTON— That Andre De Grasse, Canada’s newly minted 100-metre champion, was going to run a sub 10-second final, was almost expected. That’s how quickly the reputation of this 20-year-old, who started sprinting just three years ago, has grown.
But when he was asked how he felt about his races Friday night, he wasn’t just happy with the final — where he ran a wind-legal personal best of 9.95 — but the heats, where he ran 10.07.
“I was actually really happy because my teammates ran pretty fast,” De Grasse said. “I was like, we’re going to be in for world championships and we’re going to have a good relay team.”
It’s taken De Grasse’s sub10-second times — especially the eye-popping, wind-aided 9.75 last month — to draw public attention to Canadian sprinting.
But track insiders were already following the trend: the Canadian men are getting fast, again.
Last year’s 100 Canadian champion won in 10.37 seconds. This year, that time would barely hang on for eighth place.
And the depth of the field in the final was such that five men had the world standard, which is two more than Canada can send to the world championships in Beijing in August.
“The current crop is amazing,” Olympic gold medallist Donovan Bailey said. “They might be more talented overall than we were as a team.”
He’s referring to the 1990s, when Canada’s 4x100m men were the team to beat at the Olympics and world championships and he and Bruny Surin were also winning medals in the 100.
“We’ve kind of been in a lull for a little bit and I’m very happy that someone like Andre has gone sub 10 so we’re actually talking about it again,” Bailey said. “He’s definitely the leader in a good crop.”
Aaron Brown, who came second in the 100 final Friday night, said De Grasse’s success is both a public exclamation mark on what they’re capable of and a motivator to other sprinters to step it up, to keep up the pace.
“When you’re knocking on the door . . . and methodically trying to progress (your times) down and then someone just kicks it down, it’s like ‘oh, time to go.’ It makes everyone step up their game and try a lot harder to achieve those same things,” said Toronto’s Brown, who will compete at the Pan Am Games in the 4x100m relay.
He’s not talking about trying harder physically so much as mentally. “It’s a matter of attitude,” he said. “You have more sense of urgency, my time is now, versus ‘Oh, if it happens it happens or if not maybe next year.’ It’s ‘this guy has already done it and I don’t want to be left behind, I want to share in that glory.’ ”
And in track, the only way to get glory is to win on the biggest of stages.
Markham’s De Grasse will run all his events — the 100, 200 and 4x100 — at the Toronto Pan Ams and just the100 and 4x100 at the world championships.
“They always tell me when I run fast it motivates them,” De Grasse said of his fellow Canadian sprinters.
He’s fine with that. Running fast is what he intends to keep doing.
“I have a lot of motivation, I feel like I haven’t really done anything yet,” he said.
“I want to come out and medal at the Pan Am Games, make the final in the world championships and, hopefully, get a medal there. I just want to help Canada get back to where they were in the ’90s.”
De Grasse is already the Canadian record holder in the 200 (20.03) and, before long, he’s hoping to complete the set with the 100 record of 9.84, co-held by Bailey and Surin.
“I’m chasing 9.84, it’s coming along slowly but I think it’ll be there eventually,” De Grasse said.