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As daunting as taking the road with Olympic medallists is for knowledgeable sprinter, there is perhaps a much bigger problem forward for 18-year-old sensation Erriyon Knighton.
“Be your self, do not take into consideration the strain,” was the recommendation from Canada’s Andre De Grasse whereas talking to reporters final week in regards to the Florida excessive schooler being hailed as the following Usain Bolt.
De Grasse was typically talked about in the identical breath because the eight-time Olympic champion and iconic sprinter earlier than, throughout and after successful three medals at his 2016 Summer season Video games debut in Rio. He stepped out of the retired Bolt’s shadow final summer season, successful Olympic 100-metre bronze and 200 gold in Tokyo.
“I wished to be simply me,” mentioned De Grasse, whose 19.62-second efficiency within the 200 is a Video games report. “I feel now that I’ve gained a gold medal it takes away that second a little bit bit simply to say, ‘he is a champion as nicely’ not simply the man who ran towards Usain Bolt.”
On April 30, Knighton ran 19.49 on the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, La., to set a brand new Below-20 world report and turn into the fourth-fastest general over 200 in historical past behind Bolt (19.19), Yohan Blake (19.26) and Michael Johnson (19.32). This Saturday, Knighton shall be aiming for his first-ever sub-10 clocking within the 100 towards De Grasse and 7 different males on the Diamond League’s Prefontaine Traditional.
“He is very younger and proficient,” mentioned De Grasse, the defending Prefontaine champion, who relishes the prospect to race Knighton for years to come back.
WATCH | De Grasse defeats Kerley for 100m win at 2021 Prefontaine Traditional:
Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., gained the boys’s 100-metre race Saturday on the World Athletics Diamond League Prefontaine Traditional monitor meet with a wind-aided (wind: +2.9) time of 9.74 seconds.
Scheduled for five:52 p.m. ET, the much-anticipated race in Eugene, Ore., may also function 2020 Olympic silver medallist Fred Kerley, 2019 world champion Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell, the world’s quickest 100 runner final yr. The occasion begins at 4 p.m. on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports activities app and CBC Gem.
Knighton ran a private better of 10.04 on April 16 to beat 2019 Diamond League Trophy winner Noah Lyles (10.05) and seize the Olympic improvement race on the Tom Jones Memorial Traditional in Gainesville, Fla.
“This child is unbelievable,” Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown instructed CBC Sports activities just lately. “I believed what he did final yr was extremely spectacular.”
WOW. 18-year-old <a href=”https://twitter.com/ErriyonK?ref_src=twsrcpercent5Etfw”>@ErriyonK</a> drops a 19.49 at LSU to turn into the 4th quickest man in historical past for the 200 meters. HEAVENS! <a href=”https://t.co/fOUtgzAXN5″>pic.twitter.com/fOUtgzAXN5</a>
—@ChrisChavez
Final Aug. 4 in Japan, Brown completed 27-100ths of a second behind fourth-place Knighton (19.93) within the 200 remaining, the youngest man to race in a person Olympic monitor remaining at 17.
“He in all probability has the potential to be the world report holder in some unspecified time in the future,” mentioned Brown, a three-time Olympian. Bolt holds that title after operating 19.19 in August 2009 and clocked 19.93 when he was 18.
“He [Knighton] is on a trajectory nobody has ever been on operating at that age and it is only a matter of how he matures and if he has the suitable folks in his nook,” mentioned Brown, who gained his first-ever Diamond League 100 race final week on the Muller Birmingham occasion in England. “To date, he appears very grounded and centered on his craft.”
De Grasse, who arrives on the Prefontaine Traditional after going 10.24 in Birmingham, used his time correctly on the circuit a yr in the past as a practising floor for the Olympics, and possibly will do the identical for the world championships in July at Hayward Area in Eugene.
However the Markham, Ont., sprinter will not get the prospect Saturday to actual revenge on Marcell Jacobs, who stopped the clock in a European report 9.80 in Tokyo to turn into the primary Italian to win Olympic gold within the 100. Italy’s athletics federation (FIDAL) mentioned Jacobs is nursing a muscle damage, reportedly suffered throughout his season-opening win (10.04) final week in Savona, Italy.
WATCH | Jacobs 1st Italian to win Olympic 100-metre gold medal:
Andre DeGrasse of Markham, Ont., is Canada’s first male athlete to win a medal on the video games, following a 3rd place win within the males’s 100-metre race.
Trayvon Bromell and Kerley of america are tied for fourth on the planet this yr with a better of 9.92. Kerley ran a 9.84 PB within the 2020 Olympic remaining whereas Bromell, who ran a world-leading 9.77 earlier within the season, did not make the ultimate after barely qualifying for the semifinals after which going 10-flat. He was added to Saturday’s discipline on Tuesday, changing Jacobs.
People Ronnie Baker and Marvin Bracy had been a part of the preliminary begin checklist in Eugene however will not race.
The remainder of Saturday’s 100m discipline
Christian Coleman: The 26-year-old has been working his manner again largely behind the scenes this outside season after returning to indoor competitors in January following an 18-month suspension for breaching anti-doping whereabouts guidelines.
Coleman, who has a bye into worlds after taking the 100 three years in the past in a 9.76 PB, went 10.09 in his lone 2022 race on on the Seiko Golden Grand Prix on Might 8 in Tokyo.
Noah Lyles: The 200 specialist and 2019 world gold medallist shall be operating his fourth 100 of the season. Lyles has a season better of 10.05 from April in Gainesville, Fla., and his 9.86 private finest was set in Might 2019 at Diamond League Shanghai in China.
WATCH | CBC Sports activities explains the 100-metre sprint:
The 100m sprint is essentially the most electrifying 10 seconds in sports activities. Usain Bolt and Florence Griffith Joyner have been on prime of the world for years, being the earth’s quickest people. However how briskly can people actually run, and have we reached our peak?
Kenny Bednarek: He has largely competed within the 200 in recent times, successful Olympic silver behind De Grasse and the 2021 Diamond League Trophy. He ran 10.15 at his second 100 occasion of the season on Might 7 on the Kip Keino Traditional in Nairobi and has a better of 9.89 from final yr’s U.S. Olympic trials.
Letsile Tebogo: The opposite teen in Saturday’s race, 18-year-old Tebogo, earned a ticket to worlds this summer season by taking 1-A hundredth off Bromell’s U20 world mark of 9.97 from 2014 at dwelling in a successful run on April 16 at a Continental Tour meet in Gaborone. He’s the primary man from Botswana to interrupt 10 seconds within the distance.
Kyree King: The 27-year-old’s solely two wind-legal occasions of his profession beneath 10 seconds had been achieved in every of the previous two years, most just lately on Might 1 in Clermont, Fla., the place the victorious King reached the end line in 9.98. In April 2021, he beat Justin Gatlin (9.97-9.98) in a race that included Brown and Bracy.
4 different Canadians are competing at Prefontaine Traditional – 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Moh Ahmed (males’s 5,000), Gabriela DeBues-Stafford (girls’s, 1,500) and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and Will Paulson within the males’s Bowerman mile.
On June 5, the Diamond League season shifts to Rabat, Morocco, starting at 2 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports activities app and CBC Gem.
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