De Grasse, Brown run season bests for second and third in Doha Diamond League 200m

Canadians Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown ran to season-best performances in the 200m on Friday at the Diamond League event in Doha, Qatar, where they both ended up on the podium. De Grasse ran his first sub-20-second result of the year with a 19.89 photo finish that saw him just miss out on the win behind American Kenny Bednarek, who clocked 19.88. Brown crossed the line in third in 20.25 seconds. Here are those results and more from the Doha Diamond League. 

SO CLOSE we needed a photo finish ?

USA's Kenny Bednarek edges Canada's @De6rasse ​by just one one-hundredth of a second in the men's 200m final at #DohaDL

Canada's @KingsleySC finishes third ??

WATCH: https://t.co/vSmURUOJFd pic.twitter.com/9l9YOfUH5O

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) May 28, 2021

De Grasse and Brown podium again 

The 200m in Doha marks De Grasse’s best performance at the distance since he ran 19.87 seconds in Belgium in September 2019. That year, De Grasse broke 20 seconds on four occasions (including a 19.95-second run in Doha at the world championships that earned him a silver medal), but he failed to do so in 2020. Granted, De Grasse had many more racing opportunities in 2019 than he did in 2020 due to the pandemic, and he only raced the 200m twice last year, but it’s still exciting to see him dip back under the 20-second barrier. 

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De Grasse has had a solid season so far, and other than a sixth-place run in a 60m race earlier this year in January, he has not finished off the podium. He had some momentum coming into Friday’s race, as he posted a third-place finish in the 200m at the Gateshead Diamond League just a week ago in the U.K.

Also in the Gateshead race was Brown, who finished in second, just ahead of De Grasse. They swapped places on Friday, but Brown still laid down a tremendous effort for third. Bednarek’s win in Doha was his second straight, as he, too, competed in Gateshead, where he finished ahead of Brown and De Grasse. 

#DohaDL 200m ?
19.88 – Kenny Bednarek
19.89 – Andre de Grasse pic.twitter.com/fgm53rHrG0

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) May 28, 2021

Friday’s race was much tighter, though, and De Grasse pushed Bednarek right to the line. After the opening 100m, Bednarek had the lead, but De Grasse wasn’t willing to let him get away too easily. The Canadian chased Bednarek down, and for the final 50m or so, the two were side by side. They crossed the line in an extremely tight finish, and it was determined that Bednarek had just barely eked out the win. 

While De Grasse and Brown may be disappointed in yet another loss to Bednarek, they both have lots to be proud of from this race, as they’re moving in the right direction and continuing to improve with just a couple of months to go until the Tokyo Games. 

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Other Doha results 

In 2020, Kenyan 1,500m Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon raced the 800m at the Doha Diamond League, which was her first time competing at the distance in five years. She took the win that day in a PB of 1:57.68, and although she couldn’t better her personal best on Friday, she defended her Doha 800m title, taking the win in 1:58.26. Second went to Natoya Goule in 1:59.70, and Morocco’s Rababe Arafi placed third in 1:59.83. Teenaged star Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain finished in fifth in 2:00.63. 

https://twitter.com/dldoha/status/1398318606438612993?s=20

In the men’s 1,500m, Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot won in a world-leading time of 3:30.48. The race was the first of 2021 for Cheruiyot, the reigning 1,500m world champion. Australia’s Stewart McSweyn grabbed second in 3:31.57, and third went to Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco, who ran a PB of 3:31.95. 

In the men’s 800m, Kenya’s Wyclife Kinyamal took the win in a world lead of 1:43.91, and Michael Norman of the U.S. also ran a world lead in the 400m in 44.27. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet also posted a world-leading time with her PB in the women’s 3,000m, which she won in 8:27.49. 

For full results from the Doha Diamond League, click here. 

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