No regrets as De Grasse dashes to silver
Sprinter’s second medal in Doha is Canada’s first in men’s 200 since 1991
DOHA, QATAR— Canada’s Andre De Grasse says it’s mission accomplished at the world track and field championships.
The 24-year-old from Markham made a late charge to capture silver in the men’s 200 metres on Tuesday, giving him two medals at the meet this year.
De Grasse crossed the line in 19.95 seconds, with American Noah Lyles first in 19.83.
Ecuador’s Alex Quinonez was third in 19.98.
De Grasse also won bronze in the 100 metres on Saturday.
“It feels good pretty good to get a silver medal here,” De Grasse said. “I feel like I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish. I came here to Doha, Qatar, to podium. Hopefully in a couple days we can get a medal in the 4x100-metre relay.”
Toronto’s Aaron Brown, the Canadian champ in the 200, finished sixth in 20.10.
“I gave it everything I had,” said Brown, who was also eighth in the 100. “I’m not happy with sixth, but it keeps me hungry, it’s fuel for the fire.”
De Grasse’s silver was Canada’s first world championship medal in the men’s 200 since Atlee Mahorn was third in 1991.
Canada now has four medals (three bronze, one silver) at the world championships after winning none at the last worlds in London in 2017.
It was the fourth career world championship medal for De Grasse, who has rejoined the world’s sprinting elite heading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after a frustrating stretch of two lost seasons to hamstring injuries.
De Grasse’s troubles began at the 2017 world championships in London, where his hurt hamstring forced him to withdraw from the 100- and 200-metre events. De Grasse was considered a medal contender in both events — perhaps even a threat to beat Jamaican legend Usain Bolt — after a highly successful three-medal performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. This past December, De Grasse left coach Stuart McMillan and Phoenix to move to Jacksonville, Fla., to train with American coach Rana Reider.
McMillan was impressed with De Grasse’s run on Tuesday. “Knowing Andre and his coach, they will be disappointed not to win,” McMillan tweeted. “But that is a heckuva ‘comeback’ season, & sets up what is certain to be an exciting Tokyo Games next year!”
Earlier Tuesday, Marco Arop of Edmonton finished seventh in the men’s 800 metres.
Two Canadians also qualified for finals. Matthew Hughes of Oshawa has secured a spot in the men’s 3,000-metre steeplechase final, while Michael Mason of Nanoose Bay, B.C., will go for a medal in the men’s high jump.
Mason cleared the qualifying height of 2.29 metres, while Hughes pasted the fourth fastest time in heats (a season-best eight minutes 13.12 seconds) to advance to the steeplechase final.
“Everything went really well,” Mason said. “I just had that one miss at 2.29 but felt really good, maybe just missed my mark a little bit. I made the adjustment and made it with a good clearance on my second attempt. It was a good outcome today, everything just lined up as we wanted.”
Hughes was happy with his race.
“It was good, it was a fast time,” Hughes said.
Sage Watson of Medicine Hat, Alta., qualified for the women’s 400-metre hurdles semifinals by finishing second in her heat with a time of 55.57 seconds.
“It was my first time running on this track, I got it figured out now,” she said. “I made a few errors that I need to fix tomorrow, but I’m ready to run something fast, I can feel it.”
In the men’s 400 metres, Toronto’s Philip Osei moved to the semis by finishing second in his heat with a time of 45.87 seconds.
Toronto’s Crystal Emmanuel just missed qualifying for the women’s 200-metre final. Her semifinal time of a season-best 22.65 seconds was third in her heat and ninth overall.
The top eight made the final.