Canadian sprint star De Grasse has strong season-opening effort in Botswana

GABORONE — Canadian star sprinter Andre De Grasse showed no signs of slowing down in his season opener on Sunday at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix.

The seven-time Olympic medallist won the men’s 200 metres in 19.84 seconds, easily taking first, with Toronto’s Aaron Brown placing second in 20.07 seconds. The time was De Grasse’s fastest in the distance since his season-concluding 19.76 second-effort in 2023.

In the 100, the 31-year-old De Grasse finished second, narrowly edging Kenya’s Ferdinand Ominyala (9.95). It was De Grasse’s fastest time in the event since he won Olympic bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where he ran a personal best of 9.89 seconds.

“Nice way to open up the season running some strong times,” De Grasse said. “But for now, I’m focused on the World Relays and teaming up with the guys next weekend and representing Canada.”