Andre De Grasse wins 100m with his fastest time in two years at the Ostrava Golden Spike
Andre De Grasse posted his fastest time in almost two years as he won the men’s 100m at the 63rd Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Czechia on Tuesday.
De Grasse’s time of 10.10 was 0.01 faster than he ran in his first outdoor meet in late April, the East Coast Relays in Jacksonville, Florida. Just as he did then, one of the men De Grasse beat to the finish line for first place was the reigning Olympic champion in the 100m, Italy’s Marcell Jacobs.
The last time De Grasse ran under 10.10 seconds was in June 2022 when he won the 100m at the Oslo Bislett Games in Norway, a Diamond League meet, in 10.05 seconds. His quickest 100m in 2023 was 10.16 seconds.
Jacobs actually tied for third in Ostrava with another Canadian, Jerome Blake, as they both clocked in at 10.19 seconds. That is Blake’s fastest time of the year by more than a tenth of a second. Jamaica’s Ryiem Forde ran 10.17 to finish second in Ostrava.
Blake and De Grasse make up half of Canada’s 4x100m relay team that won Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020 before taking gold at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. Along with Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney, they qualified Canada in the 4x100m relay for Paris 2024 at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas earlier this month. Nine days ago, De Grasse finished second in the 100m at the Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, running 10.19 seconds.
De Grasse is still chasing the Olympic entry standard in the 100m, which was set at 10 seconds flat. At time of writing, he was high enough in the world rankings that he would be allocated a quota spot, but achieving the entry standard would solidify his position. The qualification window closes on June 30, which coincides with the last day of the Bell Track & Field Trials in Montreal where the makeup of the Canadian Olympic Team will be determined.
