Andre de Grasse wins gold in men’s 200 metres at the 2023 Diamond League Final

Andre de Grasse (Fernando Frazao, Wikimedia Commons)

Canadian Olympic gold medalist Andre de Grasse of Scarborough, Ontario won the gold medal in the men’s 200 metres at the 2023 Diamond League Final in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday. It was one of three medals won by Canadians in the Diamond League Final. Sarah Mitton of Liverpool, Nova Scotia won the silver medal in the women’s shot put on Saturday, and Marco Arop of Edmonton, Alberta won the silver medal in the men’s 800 metres on Sunday.

De Grasse, who won the gold medal in the men’s 200 metres at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, had a season best time of 19.76 seconds. He had a time of 19.62 seconds when he won the Olympic gold medal. Kenneth Bednarek of the United States won the silver medal with a time of 19.95 seconds. Erriyon Knighton of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 19.97 seconds. De Grasse reached the podium by 0.32 seconds over Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic, who finished in fourth place with a time of 20.08 seconds.

Mitton had a throw of 19.94 metres. Chase Ealey of the United States won the gold medal with a throw of 20.76 metres. Auriol Dongmo of Portugal won the bronze medal with a throw of 19.92 metres. Mitton reached the podium by 0.06 metres over Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands, who finished in fourth place with a throw of 19.88 metres.

Arop had a personal best time and Canadian record time of 1:42.85. Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya won the gold medal with a time of 1:42.80. Djamel Sedjati of Algeria won the bronze medal with a time of 1:43.06. Arop reached the podium by 1.09 seconds over Yanis Meziane of France, who finished in fourth place, with a time of 1:43.94. The old Canadian record belonged to Brandon McBride of Windsor, Ontario, who had a time of 1:43.20 at a Diamond League event in Monaco on July 20, 2018, in winning the silver medal.

The gold medal for De Grasse was the first gold medal by a Canadian in the Diamond League Finals since Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, British Columbia won the 2011 Diamond League Finals in Brussels, Belgium. Armstrong won a bronze medal for Canada at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The weekend medals for de Grasse, Arop and Mitton will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

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