Andre De Grasse won’t get the chance to steal Usain Bolt’s crown.
The Canadian sprint star suffered a grade 2 hamstring injury on Monday that will keep him out of the world track and field championships and deny him the opportunity to beat Bolt in the Jamaican star’s final 100-metre race. The championships begin Friday in London.
“The entire year this 100-metre race in London was my focus,” De Grasse said in a statement. “I am really in the best shape of my life and was looking forward to competing against the best in the world.
“To not have this opportunity is unimaginable to me but it is the reality I am faced with. I am sad to miss this chance but I am young and will be back and better than ever in the near future.”
De Grasse, 22, was working on his start Monday at London’s Mile End Stadium when he felt a pop in his right hamstring, according to his agent, Paul Doyle. After ultrasound treatment in London on Tuesday, De Grasse flew to Munich Wednesday for further treatment, but the recommendation was made that he should skip the worlds.
Andre De Grasse withdraws from world championships with hamstring injury0:29
The injury is a big blow to a Canadian team that was relying on De Grasse for medals at the worlds. He was a threat in both the 100 and 200 metres and also served as the anchor on Canada’s 4×100 relay team.
The 100 heats are scheduled for Friday with the final on Saturday. Bolt, the 31-year-old Olympic champion in the 100, 200 and 4×100, has said he will retire following these world championships.
“Injuries are a part of the sport, and the timing of this one is especially unfortunate,” De Grasse said in a statement on his Facebook page. “While I’m in the best shape of my life and extremely disappointed that I will not have the chance to compete for my country in London, I can’t forget or be ungrateful for the successes that I’ve been blessed with up to this point in my career.”
CBC Sports analyst Anson Henry spoke with De Grasse Wednesday night after news of the injury was revealed and said the Markham, Ont., sprinter did everything he could to compete.
“He was going to try,” Henry said. “He did everything he could. He made the trip over to Germany to try to find some other alternative to accelerate the process.
“He understands what he means to Canada. He understands what’s expected of him and feels a sense of obligation to perform and people depend on him. He didn’t want to let anyone down, but the final advice that he got was, ‘Look, if you do this, you literally could ruin your career.'”
Henry said De Grasse is still hoping to run this season — he leads the Diamond League in both the 100 and 200 — but the injury means he is likely finished for the year.
“With the magnitude of the situation, he’s upset,” Henry said.
Bad timing
Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert said that injuries are part of the sport, but that the timing was unfortunate. “I really feel for Andre, I know he really wanted to make a mark here at the world championships,” he said in a statement.
De Grasse has been tabbed the heir apparent to Bolt since his emergence on the track scene at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, where he won gold in both the 100 and 200.
He followed that up with a three-medal performance at the Rio Olympics last year, winning silver in the 200 and bronze in the 100 and 4×100.
Donovan Bailey, an Olympic and world champion in the 100 and 4×100, said he understands De Grasse’s frustration at not being able to compete.
“I feel for Andre, because I’m sure he’ll look at this as a lost opportunity, but I’m very certain that he will use this to gather his thoughts and motivate him to come back and do some incredible things,” Bailey said. “There’s two things you can do when you have a hamstring injury leading up to a major championship and you’re a [potential] medallist. You can be sad and bitter, or this is something that could motivate you incredibly for the next time you have the opportunity, and I know for a fact that Andre takes the latter.
“I know for a fact that he’s salivating, knowing he could beat most of the people if not everyone that he’s competing against and just waiting for the opportunity for him to do that next year.”
