De Grasse, Brown to sprint for gold in 200 metres at track worlds
Fellow Canadian Brendon Rodney comes up short in Doha, Qatar
Andre De Grasse, who already boasts a bronze medal from the 100 metres at this year's track and field world championships, will be vying for gold in the 200 on Tuesday. And he'll be joined by reigning Canadian champion Aaron Brown.
The Markham, Ont., sprinter won his heat in 20.08 seconds at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
"I tried to run a hard 150 [metres to] see where I'm at, and if I'm in good position, just cruise [to the finish line] and get ready for [the final] because that's where it all counts," De Grasse told CBC Sports' Scott Russell.
"I'm trying to let people know I'm back. A lot of people were doubting me and counting me out," the 24-year-old said with a smile. "Remember last year? Nobody wanted to do an interview with me after I got injured [and] now everybody wants to do interviews, so I feel pretty good about that."
WATCH | Andre De Grasse posts convincing win in semifinal heat:
CBC Sports analyst Donovan Bailey said De Grasse is running smart and it didn't make any sense for him to try to break a record in a semifinal heat.
"There are certain athletes that peak at the highest level," said Bailey, who won Olympic gold in the 100 in 1996. "I loved the highest level and competition and Andre seems to have taken a page out of my book here.
"His responsibility is to manage the races and the [heat, semifinal and final] rounds properly so that he'll get a real good lane in the final and I'm certain he'll air it out in the final."
De Grasse is happy that Brown, his friend and sprint rival, will also be part of the eight-man field in Tuesday's final at 3:40 p.m. ET.
WATCH | Brown: 'I just gotta dig deep and fight. Everybody's tired':
The 27-year-old Brown was third in the first of three heats in 20.20 and had to wait to see if he would advance.
"I didn't execute the race the way I should have," he said. "Coming off the curve I got sloppy and I know my coach [Dennis Mitchell] is going to give me an earful but I live to fight another day."
Added Bailey: "I believe he can go sub-20 [seconds]. At the start of the season and the way he's been running, I thought he would also be in medal contention [at worlds] so let's hope he can put it together for the final."
Fellow Canadian Brendon Rodney failed to qualify with his 20.34 clocking.
"I didn't put [it] together [on the straightaway] but it was better than a ran in [Sunday's heat] so I just have to take the improvements and build on it for next year," he said.
Top-ranked Lyles pushed by Quinonez
Rodney, along with De Grasse and Brown, will be part of Canada's 4x100 men's relay team that will run a heat race on Friday.
World No. 1 Noah Lyles of the United States qualified first in 19.86 seconds and was followed closely in his heat by Alex Quinonez of Ecuador in 19.95.
Defending world champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey also qualified in 20.16.
Jamaica's Yohan Blake, the 2017 world bronze medallist, went 20.37 to finish 15th of 22 runners.
Moncton's Lalonde 14th in 3,000 steeplechase final
Geneviève Lalonde of Moncton, N.B., was 14th in the women's 3,000-metre steeplechase final, recording a time of nine minutes 32.92 seconds.
"The main goal of coming to worlds is to perform and unfortunately today my legs just didn't have it," she said. "I wasn't jumping the barriers well, wasn't smooth. I'm a little disappointed but I made it to world champs in the finals
Lalonde, who didn't finish her race at the Diamond League Final on Aug. 29 in Zurich, was 13th in the 2017 world final in 9:29.99.
She opened her outdoor season on May 25 with a Canadian-record 9:29.82 in Shanghai but didn't return to that range until Friday's heat race when Lalonde clocked 9:30.01.
WATCH | Lalonde: 'Lots of work to do' leading up to 2020 Olympics:
Emmanual rebounds to qualify for women's 200 semis
Buoyed by a strong start in her 200-metre heat, Crystal Emmanuel was 19th among 24 qualifiers for the women's semifinals on Tuesday at the track and field world championships.
Emmanuel, who went 22.60 for a seventh-place finish in the 2017 world final, was fourth in a group of six to qualify outside of the top-three finishers in each of the six heats.
WATCH | Crystal Emmanuel clocks 23.00 seconds in her 200-metre heat:
Tuesday's semifinal is scheduled for 2:35 p.m. ET at Khalifa International Stadium.
Emmanuel, 27, failed to qualify for the women's 100 final on Sunday, posting a time of 11.29, just shy of her 11.16 SB.
"I have to stay focused and take one race at a time," she told Scott Russell of CBC Sports.
Reigning world champ Schippers out with injury
Netherlands sprinter Dafne Schippers won't defend her 200 title because of an injury.
Schippers, 27, strained an adductor muscle in the semifinal of the 100 on Sunday and didn't race in the final. It wasn't any better after warming up Monday and she didn't start her first-round heat of the 200.
An adductor muscle strain is an acute injury to the groin muscles on the inside of the thigh.
Elsewhere, Blessing Okagbare was disqualified from the 200 for a second time.
Because of a mix-up by her nation's track federation, the Nigerian sprinter was initially disqualified after she didn't show up for the 100 that she never intended to run. Only after an appeal and a long wait did Blessing find out she was back in.
But when she got to the race she was disqualified for stepping outside of her lane.
Gleadle to miss women's javelin final
Vancouver's Liz Gleadle improved with each of her three throws in the women's javelin qualification round Monday but will not compete for a medal for the first time in three appearances at world championships.
The 30-year-old's final throw of 60.17 metres placed her 16th in the field of 31 and narrowly behind Irena Sedivá (60.90) of the Czech Republic, who secured the 12th and final position for Tuesday's final at 2:20 p.m. ET.
WATCH | Veteran athlete Liz Gleadle on a young Canadian team:
"I'm really disappointed about this," said Gleadle, who won Pan Am gold in 2015 and silver this year. "Unfortunately, I got a little short-changed in the warmup and wasn't able to get as many throws as I wanted.
"I had taken a couple of days off on purpose in order to rest up and be ready and I didn't get quite as activated as I would have liked. My last throw technically was awesome, but I don't think my nervous system was quite turned on enough yet."
Gleadle entered worlds having topped 63 metres in three of her four previous events, including a season-best 63.77 at the Zagreb World Challenge in Croatia on Sept. 3. She threw 63.40 in Montreal for a Canadian title in late July and 63.30 on Aug. 9 for a silver medal at the Pan Am Games in Peru.
Gleadle finished 11th in the 2015 world final at Beijing and 12th two years later in London.
Canada's Stiverne, Price knocked out in 400 heats
Canadian runner Aiyanna-Brigitte Stiverne will not race the women's 400 semifinals despite posting a faster time than two of the 24 qualifiers.
The native of Laval, Que., clocked 52.03 seconds in Monday's heat, ahead of Sada Williams (52.14) of Barbados and Lada Vondrova (52.23) of the Czech Republic. But the top three from each heat advance and Williams and Vondrova went 2-3 in the same heat while Stiverne was fifth in her heat.
The 24-year-old University of Miami graduate, who now lives in the city, placed 27th overall of 47 finishers after placing 32nd at the 2017 worlds.
Fellow Canadian Madeline Price, also 24, crossed the line in 52.24 on Monday and finished 33rd.
CBC Sports has exclusive live coverage of the 2019 World Track & Field Championships from Sept. 27-Oct. 6. Visit the stream and broadcast schedule, You can also add the complete event schedule to your calendar.
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With files from The Associated Press