De Grasse among Canadians advancing in athletics on Day 10

Andre De Grasse is headed to Wednesday’s semifinal in the men’s 200m, seeking to defend his Olympic gold medal.

A late push in Monday’s qualifying heat gave De Grasse second place (20.30 seconds), just behind Noah Lyles of the USA, who won 100m gold on Sunday.

De Grasse had surprisingly failed to qualify for that 100m final, so the result in 200m was a welcome bounce-back.

“It’s good to be back, running the 200m after last night,” said De Grasse. “Right now, I’ve just got to focus on me, make sure I qualify through the rounds and go from there.”

But there is a bit of focus off the track—on his family, who are cheering him on in Paris.

“My family’s here, my mum, my girlfriend, my kids. It’s great to have them,” said De Grasse. “Tokyo, nobody had a chance to have them here. It’s nice to have the family here supporting me.”

Brendon Rodney posted a season best time of 20.30 but was edged out by one-hundredth of a second for third in his heat. He’ll head to Tuesday’s repechage. Aaron Brown will join him there, having finished fourth in his heat in 20.36.

In the women’s pole vault, Alysha Newman is through to Wednesday’s final after clearing a height of 4.55m in her first attempt during Monday’s qualification round.

Ahead of her first Olympic final, Newman is drawing inspiration from Dana Ellis, who finished sixth at Athens 2004.

“Deep down, I want her to know that she’s motivated me to get to this point,” said Newman. “I want to finish higher than she did, because without her in the sport I would have never saw those numbers to try and compete.

“I’m really looking forward to the final. They say there’s always an upset, always a surprise, and I’m feeling like I could be that surprise.”

Fellow pole vaulter Anicka Newell was able to clear 4.40m in qualifying but it wasn’t enough to advance.

Another Canadian athlete who built momentum on Day 10 is sprinter Jacqueline Madogo. In Sunday’s 200m heats, she ran a personal best of 22.78 seconds. Then in Monday’s repechage round, she posted another PB of 22.58 to finish first overall.

“I was not expecting it to be a big jump, another PB, so that was just the cherry on top,” said Madogo. “I felt really good this morning.”

She attributed that success to just trusting all the training and preparation she’s done to get here. It meant she would be joining Audrey Leduc in the semifinal later on Day 10.

“It’s clicking at the right time, which I’m happy about,” she said. “The season has been going great, so it’s just continuing to build and progressing. Onto the semis we go!”

Leduc (22.68) finished sixth in her semifinal heat, while Madogo (22.81) finished seventh in hers, so they do not move onto the final. Still, it’s an impressive showing for the pair of first-time Olympians, up against some of the world’s fastest women.

Earlier in the day at Stade de France, sprinters Zoe Sherar and Lauren Gale qualified for Tuesday’s repechage round in the women’s 400m. Sherar posted a time of 51.97 seconds, while Gale ran a 53.13 in the heats.

Jean-Simon Desgagnés held on for fifth in his heat in the first round of the men’s 3000m steeplechase with a time of 8:25.28. That sends the first-time Olympian through to the final on Wednesday.

Desgagnés had recorded a personal best and finished eighth in the final at last year’s World Athletics Championships and won gold at the Pan American Games. That gave him confidence that an Olympic final was within his reach, as well as tools to make it happen.

Among them was a strategy to hang with the lead pack of competitors, which is what he executed on Monday. He also draws strength from the success of his teammates Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and Thomas Fafard.

“When I see my teammates do well, I know that the training plan is good, the confidence level is there, the mind set is there,” said Desgagnés. “It shows that we are now one of the best groups in the world.”