Weekend recap: Andre De Grasse starts his season with 2 wins
CBC
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
The country's biggest track star kicked off his season, a top thrower reached the podium and a marathon record holder failed to qualify for the Olympics. Here's a look at the most notable results for Canada's Summer Olympic athletes over the weekend:
Andre De Grasse won his first two races of the season.
After doing a few indoor 60m events over the winter, the reigning Olympic 200m champion opened his outdoor campaign at the East Coast Relays in Jacksonville, Fla., where he lives and trains.
On Friday night, De Grasse ran a wind-aided 20.11 seconds in the 200m. That was the fastest time among all 15 heats, though the competition wasn't very stiff.
On Saturday, De Grasse clocked a wind-legal 10.11 in the 100m to clip reigning Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy in a photo finish for the fastest overall time. Two-time world championship bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell was third in 10.14. De Grasse, Jacobs and Bromell train together in Jacksonville under coach Rana Reider.
De Grasse struggled for much of the past two seasons before winning the 200m at the Diamond League Final last September in 19.76 — his best time since 2021. The six-time Olympic medallist has set his sights high for this year, aiming to reach the podium in the 100, 200 and 4x100 for the third consecutive Summer Games and even break the Canadian 100m record of 9.84 seconds shared by Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin.
It's hard to gauge De Grasse's 200m performance on Friday because of the strong tailwind. But his 10.11 in the 100 was his best time in nearly two years. He'll still need to get down to 10 seconds to qualify for the Olympics in the 100 (he's already met the 200 standard), but this was a good start.
De Grasse is expected to compete in the 4x100 at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas this weekend.
Sarah Mitton took silver in the Diamond League.
After placing fourth in a stacked season opener two weekends ago in Xiamen, China, Canada's top shot putter improved to second at Saturday's meet near Shanghai. Mitton, the silver medallist at last year's world championships, finished behind back-to-back worlds gold medallist Chase Jackson of the United States. Reigning Olympic champ Gong Lijiao of China was fourth after winning the opener.
Mitton, who beat Jackson to capture the indoor world title last month, was happy with the result despite feeling "disconnected" in her first two outdoor events of the season. "It's early in the season and some of the technical pieces of my throw are still a work in progress," she said.
The only other Canadian in the meet was women's steeplechaser Regan Yee, who finished ninth after placing eighth the week before. She needs to lower her time by a few seconds to reach the Olympic standard.
International standouts included Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who won for the second straight week after breaking his own world record in Xiamen; and South African sprinter Akani Simbine, who won the men's 100m in 10.01 to beat former world champions Christian Coleman (10.04) and Fred Kerley (10.11) of the United States.
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Get up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
Raphaëlle Tousignant has spent her life beating the odds, first as a survivor of childhood bone cancer and later as a trailblazing Para hockey player.
Sarah Fillier spent her first two seasons with the New York Sirens accustomed to staring at empty blocks of seats across the bench during home games.
Canadian Paralympic Committee CEO Karen O'Neill acknowledges the team’s showing at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games wasn't the same as past years.
Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith capped their memorable Paralympic debut with bronze in the men's visually impaired slalom on Sunday at the Milano-Cortina Games.
Canadian skip Kerri Einarson looked up Saturday and saw real people, instead of cardboard cut-outs, in the stands at Calgary's WinSport Event Centre. She heard the roar of the crowd instead of the sound of flushing toilets piercing the silence.
Aaron Judge doubled and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brice Turang each had two hits as the United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night in Houston to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.
Canada's Natalie Wilkie captured her second biathlon gold of the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on Friday, winning the women's standing sprint pursuit for her fourth medal in as many events.
Canada made wheelchair curling history on Thursday as the first team at any Paralympics to complete round-robin play without a loss.
The winningest men's ski cross racer in history added to his total on Thursday.
Canada's Mark Arendz collected his 14th career Paralympic medal while teammate Brittany Hudak earned her fourth in Wednesday's standing cross-country skiing races at Milano Cortina.
Alphonso Davies covered his face with his shirt as he left the field with an injury in Bayern Munich's game against Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday in Bergamo, Italy, raising questions about the Canadian star's availability for the World Cup.