Canada’s six-time Olympic medallist, Andre De Grasse, seems to be hitting his stride at just the right moment. On Tuesday afternoon at the Gyulai István Memorial Continental Tour meet in Hungary, De Grasse recorded his first sub-20-second 200m of the season, winning the race in 19.97 seconds (+0.5 m/s).
Nice, and easy 😇@De6rasse cruises to a season’s best victory in 19.98 over 200m in Székesfehérvár without breaking a sweat 👀#ContinentalTourGold pic.twitter.com/AQ0JXRu7jm
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 9, 2024
This was De Grasse’s first 200m race in over a month, after opting out of the event at the 2024 Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials two weeks ago to focus on building his 100m speed. “Coach wants me to get that speed back, and I know it will translate to the 200m,” said De Grasse in an interview at the Canadian Trials.
It seems to have paid off for the defending Olympic 200m champion, who recorded his third-fastest 200m time since the Tokyo Olympics. His season’s best now places him among the 16 athletes who have run under the 20-second mark for 200m in 2023. The current world-leading time for the event is 19.53 seconds, held by world champion Noah Lyles, which he set at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The 29-year-old De Grasse has a history of peaking at the right time, being the only sprinter to win three Olympic sprint medals at each of the last two Olympic Games. Last September, he ran his fastest 200m time since setting the Canadian record in Tokyo, winning the men’s 200m at the Diamond League final in Eugene, Ore., in 19.73 seconds.
De Grasse wasn’t the only Canadian Olympic-bound athlete competing at Gyulai István Memorial meet. His training partner and 4x100m relay teammate Jerome Blake finished fifth in the 200m, equalling his season’s best of 20.56 seconds. In the men’s hammer throw, world champion Ethan Katzberg won his ninth straight competition with a throw of 81.87 metres. This was the eighth time he’s thrown over 80 metres this season; the next closest athlete, Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan, has done so four times.
Many more Olympic-bound Canadians will be in action later this week at the Ed Murphey Classic in Tennessee on Thursday and at Friday’s Monaco Diamond League.
For full results from the Gyulai István Memorial Continental Tour meet, check here.
