There was plenty of action on the 10th day of the Paris 2024 Olympics with Andre De Grasse setting the pace in the 200m men’s qualifying event as he took his redemption. The Canadian star recently suffered a huge shock when he did not make it to the 100m finals, but he has redeemed himself at the right time.
The Canadian sprinter is the defending gold medalist at Paris 2024 in the men’s 200m event, but his failure in the 100m semifinals where he recorded 9.98 seconds cast doubt on his chances in the 200m. With his recent injury history, Andre De Grasse performed well in the qualifying round of the 200m where he clocked 20.30 seconds.
Andre De Grasse is through to the 200m men’s semi-final! 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/YMPKyTZONf
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 5, 2024
“It’s good to be back, running the 200m after last night, Right now, I’ve just got to focus on me, make sure I qualify through the rounds and go from there,” said De Grasse to CBC.
“My family’s here, my mum, my girlfriend, my kids. It’s great to have them, Tokyo, nobody had a chance to have them here. It’s nice to have the family here supporting me.”
“Today was tough to get up but at least now we got a day off tomorrow and then probably just do a shakeout, warm-up and get ready for the semifinals on Wednesday.” said De Grasse concluded.
Big Baggage Of Expectations At Paris 2024
Grasse had a disappointing time in the 100m, but expectations are high for him in the 200m after he won the Diamond League in September with a fourth-best time of 19.76 seconds.
Ahead of Paris 2024, Grasse also posted a season-best 19.98 seconds at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix in July.
After the Tokyo Olympics, Canada invested the most in athletics, and so far, Paris 2024 hasn’t delivered. Some positive signs, however, are aligning with Alysha Newman qualifying for the women’s pole vault finals after clearing the height of 4.55 meters.
“Deep down, I want her to know that she’s motivated me to get to this point,” said Newman. “I want to finish higher than she did, because without her in the sport I would have never saw those numbers to try and compete.”
“I’m really looking forward to the final. They say there’s always an upset, always a surprise, and I’m feeling like I could be that surprise,” Newman added.
However, fellow Canadian vaulter Anicka Newell did not advance to the nest round after a failed attempt at 4.40m.
It wasn’t just Andre De Grasse who had a successful sprint; Jacqueline Madogo also broke her own personal record twice in 200m. Madogo ran 22.78 seconds in the qualifying round before finishing first in the repechage round with 22.58 seconds.
“I was not expecting it to be a big jump, another PB, so that was just the cherry on top,” said Madogo to Olympics CA. “I felt really good this morning.”
Despite Madago’s unsuccessful run in the semifinals where she finished with 22.81 seconds to crash out of Paris 2024, her impressive performance has provided a glimpse of what’s to come.
