BERLIN: Canadian Andre De Grasse ran down South African Akani Simbine to win the 100 metres in his fastest time of the year at Berlin’s ISTAF meeting on Sunday.
De Grasse, the Olympic 100m bronze medallist, came on strong in the final 30 metres to take a confidence-boosting victory in 9.97 seconds. Commonwealth Games champion Simbine was second in 9.99.
“This was like a comeback for me,” said De Grasse, who missed the 2017 world championships with a hamstring injury that lingered last year. “These were my last 100m before the world championships and this race gives me a good time before I race in Doha.”
Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica also ran his best time of the year to take victory in a time of 13.07 seconds.
The men’s pole vault brought together the three top medal contenders for Doha with American-born Swede Mondo Duplantis edging US world champion Sam Kendricks on misses as both cleared 5.80m in windy conditions. Poland’s Piotr Lisek was third at 5.70m.
Germany’s women ran the fastest 4x100m relay of the season, 41.67 seconds, and the host nation’s Gesa Krause shattered the world best in the infrequently run women’s 2,000m steeplechase, clocking 5.52.80, nearly 10 seconds faster than the previous mark.
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2019
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