One of track’s marquee events, the 100m, didn’t disappoint at nationals
The men's and women's 100m proved to be one of the highlights of day three action at the Canadian track championships in Edmonton on Saturday.
The men’s and women’s 100m finals were two of the highlights of day three action on Saturday at the Olympic trials in Edmonton. Andre De Grasse and Crystal Emmanuel are Canada’s fastest runners after taking one of track’s marquee events.
On the men’s side, while De Grasse deservedly got lots of media attention following his victory, second-place finisher Aaron Brown is also a threat to do well in Rio. He’s the latest Canadian to go sub-10 in the 100m and is only the fourth Canadian ever to do so.
“Happy to be going to my second Games, I didn’t run the race I wanted today [Saturday] but I fight to live another day,” says Brown, who will also run the 200m on Sunday. “Time to go back to the drawing board and execute next time around.”
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“There’s no reason why I couldn’t have won,” says the Nike-sponsored athlete. “Andre [De Grasse] was the better man on the day. He ran a great race and I respect him for that but I definitely feel like I have more to give and I’m going to show it the next time I go out and run.”
Brown ran 10.07 to De Grasse’s 9.99 on Saturday night.
Brown ran 9.96 earlier this year. The 10-second barrier is the main, world-class benchmark in men’s 100m sprinting.
RELATED: Aaron Brown becomes fourth Canadian ever to run sub-10 in the 100m.
“The 9.96 does a lot for my confidence,” says Brown. “You need a sub-10 to get into the [Olympic] finals. I know on the day, if I can execute the way I know I can, I can go sub-10. It comes down to execution. Today [Saturday] I didn’t execute as well but I still ran a fast time and look forward to representing my country.”
Emmanuel, the women’s winner, took the race in 11.26 followed by Phylicia George in 11.27 in a photo finish. Both automatically qualified for Team Canada by placing top two in the event. Emmanuel represented Canada at the 2012 Olympics.
Read the FULL day three recap from the national championships here.
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