American sprinter Kenny Bednarek was cruising in his 2021 rookie season as a pro, first beating Andre De Grasse over 200 metres in Diamond League meets in England and Qatar, and later at a Continental Tour event in Hungary.
The Tokyo Olympics were a month away and Bednarek had heard stories from De Grasse’s Canadian relay teammate Aaron Brown of how “Championship Andre” would post lower-than-expected times early in a season, only to excel when he arrived at the Summer Games and world championships.
De Grasse ran the 100 in 10.17 seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic, 10 weeks before Bednarek watched him clock a personal-best 9.89 in Tokyo for a bronze medal to become the first Canadian to win multiple Olympic medals in the distance.
“I was like, ‘Where did this come from? This is a different dude,'” Bednarek recalled in a recent interview with CBC Sports.
In the Olympic 200 semifinals, Bednarek remembered having “a pretty good start and was chillin'” when De Grasse blew by him and won their heat by 10-100ths of a second in a Canadian record 19.73.
“This is where I underestimated him,” Bednarek said of De Grasse. “[He] did something no one in Canada [had] done before and [I thought] maybe I got him. Maybe he’s [tired].” De Grasse went faster the next day in the final, clocking 19.62 for the victory — the first time a Canadian had won an Olympic 200 since Percy Williams in 1928.
“I have mad respect for him. He’s made me a better competitor,” said Bednarek, who rebounded to beat De Grasse at the Diamond League Finals in 2021 and last year. “I need to be on my A game no matter what. The race ain’t finished until you cross the finish line. No matter who’s in the [field], I’m always ready.”
Wise words for Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who will meet De Grasse in the 200 on Friday at 3:20 p.m. ET at Athletissima, the sixth stop of the Diamond League season in Lausanne, Switzerland. He edged the Canadian in the 100 last May at the Prefontaine Classic and won the 200 at this year’s Botswana Grand Prix in 19.87, while De Grasse went 20.41 on that April day in his season opener.
1st 100m battle since last September
On Sunday at 12:14 p.m. ET, Sweden’s Henrik Larsson and Rafael Bouju of the Netherlands — each of whom has run faster than De Grasse this season in the 100 but never raced him — will face the six-time Olympic medallist at BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm, another DL competition.
The live stream from Lausanne begins Friday at 2 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and on CBC Gem, while Sunday’s stream from Stockholm is available at 12 p.m.
Sunday’s race will be the first head-to-head meeting between De Grasse and Brown in the 100 since the DL Final last Sept. 8 in Zurich, where Brown was third and De Grasse eighth. In fairness to the latter, he did have COVID-19 twice in 2022 and was hampered by a right big toe injury for much of the campaign.
Brown, the four-time defending Canadian champion in the 100 and 200, has prevailed in five consecutive matchups (100/200 combined) and seven of the past 10 races between them, including twice this season in the 200.
“His work on the bend is a lot better,” said Bednarek, who trains with Brown at the Star Athletics Track Club in Montverde, Fla. “When we were racing in Doha [on May 5] I had a really good turn and he was right behind me.
“Me and all the younger athletes [at Star Athletics] look up to him. We see how hard he works, and it makes us want to work hard. Every single time Aaron goes to the track he’s trying to get better so he can come out as Canada’s best.”
WATCH | Brown sprints to 3rd in men’s 200m at Doha:
Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown finished in third place in the men’s 200-metre race, in a time of 20.35 seconds, at the opening event of of the 2023 Diamond League season in Doha. The event was won by American Fred Kerley with a time of 19.92. Andre DeGrasse of Markham, Ont., was 6th in a time of 20.35.
Brown returns from a three-week training block to race in Lausanne, where the Toronto native set a 19.95 PB on July 5, 2019. His best this season is 20 seconds flat in Botswana on April 29.
De Grasse posted a 20.33 SB in the 200 earlier this month at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway. In Friday’s field, Cuba’s Reynier Mena (19.95) and Tebogo are the only men to run sub-20 this season.
On Tuesday, De Grasse finished strong in Lane 5 of the 100 at the 62nd Ostrava Golden Spike, stopping the clock in 10.21 to match his season best from April 15 in Gainesville, Fla.
WATCH | De Grasse clocks 10.21 seconds in 3rd 100m race of season:
Canada’s Andre De Grasse ran to a time of 10.21 good enough for third place in the men’s 100 metre race at the Continental Tour stop in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
“I can see in training things turning around — he’s just running faster,” De Grasse’s coach John Coghlan said in a recent interview with CBC Sports. “That’s not a guarantee it’s going to happen in [his next race].”
South Africa’s Akani Simbine, the only athlete in Tuesday’s eight-man field to run under 10 seconds in 9.98, won last year’s 100 in Stockholm in 10.02 over Reece Prescod of Great Britain and Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut. All three will be in Sunday’s field at Stockholm Olympic Stadium, where a new track was installed after last year’s competition.
Newman aims to rebound in Switzerland
Two other Canadians are competing in Diamond League action this week — pole vaulter Alysha Newman in Lausanne and runner Kieran Lumb in the men’s 3,000 in Sweden, where athletes in the race will not accumulate DL points.
Newman, who turned 29 on Thursday, entered Tuesday’s event in Ostrava at 4.34 metres and failed to clear all three of her attempts for her third no-height result in the past four events over two weeks.
On June 9, the London, Ont., native cleared 4.46 at the Meeting de Paris Diamond League event coming off a 4.61 season best but dipped to 4.30 eight days later at the Kuortane Games in Finland. Newman also no-heighted at the June 13 Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland and 11 days later in Germany.
Lumb of Vancouver was 10th of 19 finishers in the men’s 1,500 in Ostrava, stopping the clock in three minutes 36.97 seconds. The 24-year-old last raced the 3,000 outdoors on April 22, 2022 and has a 7:46.28 PB from the 2021 Bislett Games.
Diamond League calendar
- Silesia, Poland — July 16
- Monaco — July 21
- London — July 23
- Shanghai — July 29
- Shenzhen, China — Aug. 3
- Zurich — Aug. 31
- Brussels — Sept. 8
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