by Larry EderFor the third time in three years, Andre De Grasse has won the Canadian championships. While some media organizations noted the modest time, RunBlogRun believes that we focus on times way too much and the titles are the important thing. De Grasse won the Canadian title on 7 July in 10.11, in Ottowa. Brendan Rodney was second in 10.18. The double gold Pan Am champ (100m and 200m) continues to roll.
Andre De Grasse, photo by PhotoRun.net
Andre De Grasse has been busy since Rio. His silver in the 200 meters, his bronze in the 100 meters and his bronze in the 4x100m made him a bit of a rock star in sports crazy Canada. Andre, quite smartly is not allowing anyone to categorize him. And, we at RunBlogRun applaud his approach.
Andre De Grasse has been picked as the next great sprinter. He has been compared to Usain Bolt. Quite frankly, that is not fair. With the likes of Andre De Grasse, Trayvon Bromell, Christian Coleman, and Noah Lyles, among others, the next generation of sprinters, on a global scale, looks promising, it is too early to say who will do what.
I recall Andre De Grasse getting some rather obtuse questions in Doha, at the first Diamond League meeting. He was asked if he could replace Usain Bolt? Andre De Grasse gave the question and the reporter much more respect than I would have showed. Quietly, and quite thoughtfully he said, ” I need to be Andre De Grasse.”
Stop looking for the next Usain Bolt. It will never happen again. For athletes like Andre De Grasse, Mondo Duplantis, Keni Harrison, Christian Taylor to be superstars, they need to be themselves, and they need to reveal just enough of themselves for the sports public to find them of interest. Easier to say, than to do.
