De Grasse outsprints friend, Canadian relay teammate Brown in men's 200m at Bislett Games
Cuba's Reynier Mena delivers strong final 60 metres to win Thursday race in Norway
Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse drew even with friend and relay teammate Aaron Brown in their second meeting this season over 200 metres on Thursday at the Bislett Games in Oslo.
De Grasse reached the finish line of the Diamond League race in 20.33 seconds for third place, with Brown crossing sixth in 20.65 with a slight tailwind on a sunny evening in the Norwegian capital.
"I need to go back to training and make some changes," said De Grasse, the Canadian record holder. "I had a good first 150 metres but then I slowed at the end.
"I didn't tighten up but that is usually the best part of my race and it wasn't tonight, unfortunately, so I need to go back to training and fix some things."
Thursday was the fifth 200 of the season for the 2021 Olympic champion and 2016 silver medallist in the distance.
- His season best is 20.23 from the Grand Slam Track event in Miramar, Fla., on May 4.
- De Grasse ran 20.29 into a headwind on May 18 in Japan.
- He opened his outdoor campaign on April 4 with a 20.32 clocking at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla.
"This season has been ok so far, nothing special," the 30-year-old said, "yet I'm happy enough at this stage. The [Sept. 13-21] World [Athletics] Championships [in Tokyo] are still a long way away so I have time to get sharp."
WATCH | De Grasse runs to 3rd-place finish at Bislett Games:
De Grasse is looking forward to representing Canada at worlds, with the goal to appear in a final. He placed sixth in the 200 final in Budapest, Hungary in 2023, one year after withdrawing from the event after testing positive for COVID-19 a second time less than three weeks before the world championships in Eugene, Ore.
In Oslo, De Grasse and Brown — who helped Canada to Olympic gold last summer in Paris in the men's 4x100m relay — were racing against each other for the first time in the 200 this season in Diamond League action. De Grasse, from Markham, Ont., now holds an 8-5 edge over Toronto's Brown all-time in the distance on the professional circuit.
De Grasse also prevailed in their only other Diamond League 200m matchup at Bislett Stadium on July 1, 2021, clocking 20.09 to Brown's 20.38.
Brown had gained the upper hand in the friendly rivalry to start 2025, beating De Grasse by 8-100ths of a second at the Grand Slam Track event in Philadelphia on May 31, but it doesn't appear they will have a chance to meet in the league's final competition of the season later this month in Los Angeles.
According to multiple reports, the professional track league founded by four-time Olympic champion sprinter Michael Johnson has cancelled the June 27-29 event at UCLA's Drake Stadium but remains committed to returning in 2026.
The inaugural season began in Kingston, Jamaica, in early April before meets in Miramar and Philadelphia, which condensed its schedule to two days from three.
Strong final 60 metres
Thursday's 200 performance from Brown was by far his slowest of the season. The reigning national champion ran a 20.35 SB on May 16 in Doha, Qatar.
Cuba's Reynier Mena took a good lead off a tight bend and delivered a strong final 60 metres to win Thursday's race in 20.20, with Timothé Mumenthaler of Switzerland following in a personal-best 20.27.
He said he entered the race confident and healthy.
"I was feeling good and felt I could get the win," said the 28-year-old with a 19.63 PB. "I did think it might be a faster race but I will certainly take the win and build on it."
Mena was thrilled to see Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt at the track. Bolt, who retired in 2017, holds the world records for the 100, 200 and 4x100.
"He is, of course, a hero of mine as well as a hero for our sport," Mena said. "I would love to inspire Cuban juniors in the way he did with us."
Canada's Katzberg wins men's hammer throw
On Wednesday, Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C., wasn't a model of consistency but he only needed one strong throw to win his fifth consecutive men's hammer throw competition to start the 2025 season.
The reigning world and Olympic champion was the lone athlete in the field of seven in Oslo to surpass 80 metres, throwing 80.19 in his third of six attempts for his first Bislett Games title.
[SUBHEAD]
Hurdler Warholm shatters own world-best time
Norwegian hurdling great Karsten Warholm destroyed his own world best time Thursday in the rarely run 30-metre hurdles.
Roared on by the home crowd, the 2021 Olympic champion pulled away from the field over the final 50m, leaning across the finish line in 32.67 seconds to break his previous mark of 33.05 set in April.
American Rai Benjamin, the 2024 Paris Olympic champion, was second in 33.22, while Alison dos Santos of Brazil was third in 33.38.
Julien Alfred, the first athlete from Saint Lucia to win an Olympic gold medal when she triumphed last year in Paris, opened her season with a win in the 100 in 10.89 seconds, setting the pace as the woman to beat at the worlds in Tokyo in September.
"I was a little rusty but I got the win under my belt which is the main thing," Alfred said. "As for my season I am Olympic champion so I am the one to beat but I really want to add world champion to my name as well."
WATCH | Olympic champ Alfred takes women's 100 metres:
Other results:
- World record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden cruised to an easy victory in the pole vault, clearing 6.15m. The twice Olympic and world champion called it a night rather than chase a world record attempt in chilly 14 C temperatures. The 25-year-old had soared 6.27m in February to break the world mark for the 11th time.
- Nico Young became the fastest American over 5,000m outdoors when he outsprinted the field to win in 12 minutes 45.27 seconds in a thrilling race full of national records and personal bests. George Mills was fourth in 12.46.59 to obliterate the British record of 12:53.11 held by distance great Mo Farah.
- Paris Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya raced to victory in the men's 800, holding off a fast-closing field over the final 100 to finish in 1:42.78.
- Kenya's Faith Cherotich won the women's 3,000 steeplechase, outsprinting Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain in a neck-and-neck battle over the final 200m, clocking 9:02.60 to edge Yavi by 0.16 seconds.
- Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan, women's javelin gold medallist at the Paris Games, threw almost a metre more than the rest of the field to win in Oslo with a toss of 64.63m.
For more information on athletics events streaming live on CBC Sports this season, click here to see the full broadcast schedule.
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With files from Lori Ewing, Reuters
