Andre De Grasse can 'absolutely' beat Usain Bolt, his 1st coach says

Canada's Andre De Grasse looked over and smiled at Jamaican sensation Usain Bolt as the pair flew across the finish line of the 200-metre sprint semifinal at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Bolt smiled back, then shook his finger as if to say, "Not this time."

But tonight, De Grasse gets another chance to beat Bolt and win a gold medal.

And at least one person thinks the 21-year-old Markham, Ont., sprinter can do it.

"He's not out there to come second," Tony Sharpe, De Grasse's former coach, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Thursday.

• CBC SPORTS | Andre De Grasse wants to win gold — now
• Beyond the 'bromance,' Bolt and De Grasse set for battle in final

Sharpe, a Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter who captured Olympic bronze in the 4x100-metre relay at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, said he was smiling, too, after watching last night's race.

I would never bet against Andre. I just don't know what this kid's limits are.- Tony Sharpe, Coach at Speed Academy Athletics Club

"The boys are having a ton of fun out there — I really enjoyed that," he said.

In tonight's 200-metre final, Sharpe expects De Grasse to show off his tremendous finishing power — or "speed endurance" as some call it — to push Bolt to the limits.

"He's going to run you through the tape," Sharpe said of the young sprinter.

"I would never bet against Andre. I just don't know what this kid's limits are."

Sharpe helped discover De Grasse in 2012 after watching him compete in a high school sprint.

De Grasse, then dressed in basketball shorts and racing without a starting block, managed to run the 100 metres in 10.9 seconds. Sharpe said he immediately knew he had spotted an immense talent.

De Grasse, who was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough and raised in Markham, learned the basics of the sport while training at Sharpe's the Speed Academy Athletics Club in Pickering, Ont., then attended the University of Southern California, where he blossomed into a world-class sprinter.

'There's going to be some fast times'

"Absolutely," Sharpe said.

The coach's prediction is that there will be some seriously fast running in tonight's final. Whoever wins, he said, will likely need to run close to 19.50 seconds.

Last night, Bolt covered the distance in 19.78 seconds — his fastest time this season — while De Grasse set a Canadian record with 19.80 seconds. Both runners consider the 200 metres to be their best event.

"There's going to be some fast times," Sharpe said.

The current world record, set by Bolt in 2009, is 19.19 seconds.

The 200-metre final will be live on CBC tonight starting at 9:30 p.m. ET.