On Friday, Andre De Grasse will compete on Canadian soil for the primary time in additional than a yr on the 2024 Bell Monitor and Discipline Trials in Montreal. Nevertheless, he gained’t be working 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 might threat lacking choice for the 200m.
De Grasse’s reasoning for not competing within the 200m is to focus on bettering 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 needs 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, needs sub 10 and the Canadian 100m title. However it gained’t be straightforward with with 6-7 🇨🇦 sprinters vying for less than three spots.
He will 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 chance De Grasse faces will not be receiving an computerized spot from Athletics Canada for competing within the occasion at nationals. Three Canadian males at the moment maintain the boys’s 200m Olympic normal, alongside De Grasse: Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney, each of whom can be competing within the males’s 200m at Trials on Saturday and Sunday. Each males will possible safe their tickets to Paris, particularly with a win. Nevertheless, issues might get difficult if Jerome Blake, who sits subsequent within the rankings, runs the Olympic normal of 20.16 seconds and wins, probably leaving De Grasse on the surface wanting in.
In response to 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 looking for nomination.” Nevertheless, De Grasse has acquired a coaches’ exemption for the boys’s 200m occasion. This implies he won’t earn an computerized berth to the Olympics at Canadian Trials and can depart his destiny within the fingers of the Athletics Canada choice committee on July 2nd.
De Grasse met the Olympic 200m normal final September on the Diamond League last in Eugene, Ore., with the fourth-fastest time of his profession–19.76 seconds. He has but to dip beneath the 20-second mark in 2024, together with his greatest time being 20.09 seconds clocked in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in late Might.
Blake, a coaching accomplice of De Grasse’s beneath acclaimed dash coach Rana Reider, has but to contest the 200m distance this season. However a win and a near-personal greatest efficiency might put him in choice competition, forcing the Athletics Canada choice committee to make a tough choice.
The 29-year-old De Grasse is arriving in Montreal in the very best 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 primary factor. There are six or seven guys working 10.0 seconds now; it was simply three.”
You’ll be able to catch De Grasse competing within the 100m semi-finals on the 2024 Bell Canadian Olympic Trials from Montreal stay 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).
