On Friday, Andre De Grasse will compete on Canadian soil for the primary time in additional than a yr on the 2024 Bell Observe and Subject Trials in Montreal. Nevertheless, he received’t be operating his premier occasion, the one he’s the Olympic champion in; as a substitute, he’ll deal with incomes his spot in Paris within the 100m, which suggests he may danger lacking choice for the 200m.
De Grasse’s reasoning for not competing within the 200m is to focus on enhancing his velocity mechanics and his begin within the 100m occasion. “I wish to deal with the 100 and enhance my begin,” says De Grasse. “Coach desires me to get that velocity again. I do know it should translate to the 200m.”
Andre De Grasse has arrived in Montreal for 🇨🇦 @paris2024 Trials.
He wholesome, desires sub 10 and the Canadian 100m title. However it received’t be straightforward with with 6-7 🇨🇦 sprinters vying for under three spots.
He may even not be within the 200m: “I wish to deal with 100m and enhance my begin.” pic.twitter.com/uGDRFiuONi
— Canadian Working (@CanadianRunning) June 26, 2024
The danger De Grasse faces is just not receiving an automated spot from Athletics Canada for competing within the occasion at nationals. Three Canadian males at present maintain the lads’s 200m Olympic customary, alongside De Grasse: Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney, each of whom shall be competing within the males’s 200m at Trials on Saturday and Sunday. Each males will doubtless safe their tickets to Paris, particularly with a win. Nevertheless, issues may get difficult if Jerome Blake, who sits subsequent within the rankings, runs the Olympic customary of 20.16 seconds and wins, doubtlessly leaving De Grasse on the skin trying in.
In line with Part 12 of Athletics Canada’s Paris 2024 qualification standards: “Athletes should compete at a Canadian Championships (CC) or Trials within the occasion for which they’re in search of nomination.” Nevertheless, De Grasse has acquired a coaches’ exemption for the lads’s 200m occasion. This implies he is not going to earn an automated berth to the Olympics at Canadian Trials and can go away his destiny within the arms of the Athletics Canada choice committee on July 2nd.
De Grasse met the Olympic 200m customary final September on the Diamond League ultimate in Eugene, Ore., with the fourth-fastest time of his profession–19.76 seconds. He has but to dip below the 20-second mark in 2024, along with his greatest time being 20.09 seconds clocked in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in late Might.
Blake, a coaching associate of De Grasse’s below acclaimed dash coach Rana Reider, has but to contest the 200m distance this season. However a win and a near-personal greatest efficiency may put him in choice rivalry, forcing the Athletics Canada choice committee to make a tough determination.
The 29-year-old De Grasse is arriving in Montreal in the most effective form he’s been in since 2021. “I’m beginning to get my velocity again,” says De Grasse. “I’m feeling like my previous self once more. I’m wholesome, and that’s the principle factor. There are six or seven guys operating 10.0 seconds now; it was simply three.”
You may catch De Grasse competing within the 100m semi-finals on the 2024 Bell Canadian Olympic Trials from Montreal reside on Runnerspace or AthleticsCanada.television on Friday, June 28 at 6:55 p.m. ET; the ultimate is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Friday night (subscription required).
