Athletics-Canadian De Grasse ends long wait for gold
Andre De Grasse
 De Grasse at the 2016 Summer Olympics
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| Personal information | |
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| Nationality | Canadian |
| Born | November 10, 1994 Scarborough, Ontario, Canada[1] |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[2] |
| Weight | 155 lb (70 kg)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country | Canada |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event(s) | Sprints |
| College team | USC Trojans (2015) Coffeyville Red Ravens (2013–2014) |
| Club | ALTIS (2015–2018)[3] |
| Team | Puma |
| Coached by | |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | |
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Medal record
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Andre De Grasse (born November 10, 1994) is a Canadian sprinter. A five-time Olympic medallist, De Grasse is the reigning Olympic champion in the 200 m and also won the silver in the 200 m in Rio in 2016. He also has three Olympic bronze medals placing third in the 100 m in both the 2016 and 2020 games, as well as a third place in the 4×100 m relay in 2016.
He was the double Pan American champion and the NCAA champion in the 100 m and 200 m. De Grasse won the bronze in the 100 m and the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. He also won the bronze in the 100 m and the silver in the 200 m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha. He is the current Canadian record holder in the 200m, running a 19.62 in Tokyo, making him the eighth fastest man in history in the 200.
De Grasse is the first Canadian sprinter to win three medals in a single Olympics. His feat bettered the two medals in a single Olympics that were won by Canadian sprinters Donovan Bailey and Percy Williams. His gold medal finish in 2020 was the first Canadian Olympic gold in track in 25 years and the first Canadian Olympic gold in the 200 m in 93 years. A consistent podium finisher, De Grasse has won a medal in every Olympic and World Championships in Athletics final he has competed in.
Kenny Bednarek
_(cropped).jpg) Bednarek at the 2019 World Athletics Championships
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| Personal information | |
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| Nationality | American |
| Born | October 14, 1998[1] Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States[1] |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | Track and field |
| Event(s) | Sprints |
| College team | Indian Hills Warriors |
| Turned pro | 2019 |
| Coached by | Dennis Mitchell[2] |
| Achievements and titles | |
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Medal record
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Kenneth Bednarek (born October 14, 1998) is an American track and field sprinter from Rice Lake, WI. On August 4, 2021, he won the silver medal in the 200-meter race at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[3] His time in the event (19.68) was a personal best. On August 2, 2021, he had the fastest time (20.01) in the quarterfinals of the 200-meter race at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[4] He qualified for the finals in a time of 19.83.
Jereem Richards
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| Personal information | |
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| Nationality | Trinidadian |
| Born | 13 January 1994 Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago[1] |
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Running |
| Event(s) | 200 metres, 400 metres |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 200 m: 19.97 (Lexington, USA 2017) 400 m: 45.21 (Freeport, Bahamas 2017) |
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Medal record
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Jereem Richards (born 13 January 1994) is a Trinidadian track and field sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres and 400 metres events. Richards is from Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago, and attended the University of Alabama. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won the bronze medal in the 4×400 m relay at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and the gold medal in the 4 x 400m relay at the 2017 IAAF World Championships.
Career
Richards’ first major competition was the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships. There, he ran the third leg of Trinidad and Tobago’s 4x400m relay squad, which won the bronze medal.
2017 became a breakout season for Richards; he opened his season with a wind-assisted 19.98, and 16 days later he ran his first legal sub-20 with 19.97 seconds, lowering his personal best by over half a second. He won the national 200, title in 20.15 seconds, allowing him to compete at the IAAF World Championships in London later that year. He also improved his 400m personal best by 7/10ths of a second with 45.27.
Richards made his outdoor world championship debut at the IAAF World Championships in London. Competing in the 200m, he ran the fastest time in the heats of 20.05, and the next day he won his semi-final in 20.14 seconds. He then went on to win the bronze medal in the final; Ramil Guliyev of Turkey won gold in 20.09 seconds, while Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa beat Richards to the silver medal by exactly 1/1000 of a second. Van Niekerk clocked 20.106, while Richards clocked 20.107. Richards stated that his race had been undermined when he slipped coming out of his blocks. “I tried my best not to let it affect me too much,” he said. “At the turn I wasn’t in contention really, so to get a medal from there is a great achievement.” Three days later, he ran the second leg for Trinidad and Tobago in the Men’s 4x400m relay, making considerable ground of the USA‘s Gil Roberts before handing the baton to Machel Cedenio. The team ultimately went on to win gold.
In September later that year, Richards announced that he was turning professional, and foregoing his final year of collegiate eligibility; he signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. Despite turning pro, he remained enrolled at Alabama to continue work towards his degree.
In March 2018, he competed in the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, as the second leg of Trinidad and Tobago’s 4x400m relay squad. Despite being the defending champions, they ultimately came fourth. Richards tried to overcome Poland on the second leg but remained third on the second lap. Lalonde Gordon gave up on the line, giving Belgium the bronze.
Richards qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the men’s 200-metre event, and clocked a season’s best time of 20.10 seconds while finishing in third place in his semifinal heat to advance to the final.[7] In the final he finished eighth in 20.39 se
conds.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Athletics – Men’s 200m – Final – Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan – August 4, 2021. Gold medallist Andre De Grasse of Canada and silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek of the United States.
TOKYO, Aug 4 (Reuters) – After years of finishing among the minor medals, Canada’s Andre De Grasse got his gold on Wednesday, winning the Olympic men’s 200 metres with a scorching time of 19.62 seconds that made him the eighth-fastest man ever over the distance.
De Grasse, who claimed the 100m bronze and 200m silver at the 2016 Games and 2019 World Championships, finally fulfilled his potential under the clear night sky at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.
“I’ve been through so much these last five years on and off the track,” he said, referring to his lingering hamstring problem after the last Games in Rio de Janeiro and a severe bout of mononucleosis.
“In 2016 I was a kid and inexperienced but now I have so many expectations to come away with medals, and I wanted to show the world all my injuries are behind me and I can bring home a gold medal.”
The 26-year-old Canadian became the first Olympic 200m champion after Jamaican Usain Bolt, who won gold at three consecutive Olympics from the 2008 Beijing Games before retiring in 2017.
For most of the race, however, it looked like De Grasse would again finish with any medal but gold.
He came into the turn third but seemed to find a higher gear to surge past his American rivals in the last 40 metres and claim victory with a Canadian national record.
“I knew the Americans were going to push me, and they were going to take me to a personal best,” he said. “It’s been five years since I had a personal best, so it was just good to get that finally out the way.”
The United States last won this event was in 2004, when they swept the medals, and Noah Lyles had established himself as the world’s top 200m sprinter in 2018 by winning all his races over the distance and posting a series of sub-19.7 times.
The world champion, who came to Tokyo with a 2021 world-leading time of 19.74 set in the U.S. trials, appeared poised to end his country’s long wait.
But Lyles was also passed by his team mate Kenny Bednarek, who took the silver medal with a time 19.68, and had to settle for bronze in 19.74.
Lyles was not satisfied with the colour of his medal.
“Overall, I felt I gave it my all,” he said.
“I suppose, especially running out of lane three, I was very happy when I re-watched the race and I saw that I came off the turn well ahead, that is something I have been working on for a long time, to see it happen was a beautiful sight.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t really see anybody so I was really just running for my life.”
Bednarek, 22, had arrived in Tokyo in red-hot form after his 19.78 personal best at the U.S. Olympic trials and running in the lane next to De Grasse helped him through.
“It didn’t go as planned, my plan was to try and lead the whole race because it’s my tournament and I’m one of the best in the world, but unfortunately that is not what happened,” he said.
“But I am grateful to come out with a silver medal, I can build off of this in the future.”
American Erriyon Knighton, 17, who has taken Bolt’s Under-20 world record, missed out on becoming the youngest medallist in a men’s athletics event by finishing fourth.
