Canada’s six-time Olympic medallist, Andre De Grasse, appears to be hitting his stride at simply the fitting second. On Tuesday afternoon on the Gyulai István Memorial Continental Excursion meet in Hungary, De Grasse recorded his first sub-20-second 200m of the season, successful the race in 19.97 seconds (+0.5 m/s).
Great, and simple 😇@De6rasse cruises to a season’s best possible victory in 19.98 over 200m in Székesfehérvár with out breaking a sweat 👀#ContinentalTourGold percent.twitter.com/AQ0JXRu7jm
— International Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 9, 2024
This was once De Grasse’s first 200m race in over a month, after opting out of the development on the 2024 Canadian Observe and Box Olympic Trials two weeks in the past to concentrate on development his 100m velocity. “Trainer desires me to get that velocity again, and I do know it is going to translate to the 200m,” stated De Grasse in an interview on the Canadian Trials.
It sort of feels to have paid off for the protecting Olympic 200m champion, who recorded his third-fastest 200m time for the reason that Tokyo Olympics. His season’s best possible now puts him some of the 16 athletes who’ve run underneath the 20-second mark for 200m in 2023. The present world-leading time for the development is nineteen.53 seconds, held by means of international champion Noah Lyles, which he set on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The 29-year-old De Grasse has a historical past of peaking on the proper time, being the one sprinter to win 3 Olympic dash medals at each and every of the closing two Olympic Video games. Remaining September, he ran his quickest 200m time since environment the Canadian document in Tokyo, successful the boys’s 200m on the Diamond League ultimate in Eugene, Ore., in 19.73 seconds.
De Grasse wasn’t the one Canadian Olympic-bound athlete competing at Gyulai István Memorial meet. His coaching spouse and 4x100m relay teammate Jerome Blake completed 5th within the 200m, equalling his season’s best possible of 20.56 seconds. Within the males’s hammer throw, international champion Ethan Katzberg received his 9th instantly festival with a throw of 81.87 metres. This was once the 8th time he’s thrown over 80 metres this season; the following closest athlete, Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan, has accomplished so 4 instances.
Many extra Olympic-bound Canadians will likely be in motion later this week on the Ed Murphey Vintage in Tennessee on Thursday and at Friday’s Monaco Diamond League.
For complete effects from the Gyulai István Memorial Continental Excursion meet, test right here.