Canadian sprinter De Grasse fails to qualify for Olympic 200-metre final

Paris -

It's been a tough few days for Andre De Grasse.

The 29-year-old from Markham, Ont., finished third in his Olympic men's 200-metre semifinal heat at 20.41 seconds Wednesday at Stade de France. He was officially eliminated from Thursday's final when the third and fourth finishers in the next semifinal posted better times.

Afterward, De Grasse revealed he had a hamstring injury that first surfaced a month ago. He only missed a week of training before re-aggravating it this week.

"It was gonna be tough today," De Grasse said. "I warmed up and I kind of didn't really feel it but I knew I just wanted to try and try and do my best and see what I could come up with."

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"I didn't realize (the injury) until after the 200-metre first round (on Monday)," he added. "I was warming up during the 200-metre heats, I thought it was just a little bit of soreness and then later that day, I got an ultrasound and just really enflamed the hamstring.

"They said I could go, gave me some meds for the pain and I just tried to come out here today and do what I could do but I knew it was gonna be tough to try to come away with a fast time."

De Grasse won gold in the event at the Tokyo Games with a personal best of 19.62 seconds.

The six-time Olympic medallist also missed the 100-metre final on Sunday, the first time in his career that he missed an Olympic final in the 100, 200 or 4x100 relay final.

De Grasse admitted that the situation with his coach, Rana Reider, having his accreditation revoked on Tuesday, also served as a distraction.

Without getting into specifics, the Canadian Olympic Committee said it found new information on Sunday "about the appropriateness of Mr. Reider remaining accredited by Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Games. In discussion with Athletics Canada, it was agreed that Mr. Reider's accreditation be revoked."

U.K. media outlets have reported the decision is tied to concerns over the "safeguarding" of athletes and allegations of sexual and emotional abuse, and court documents filed in Broward County, Fla., show three women have filed suit against Reider related to alleged sexual and emotional abuse.

Reider's U.S.-based lawyer, Ryan Stevens, said Reider is "suddenly, and without due process, being denied the right to continue coaching athletes competing in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," based on what Stevens called "years-old claims in a lawsuit by former athletes seeking financial gain."

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Stevens said Reider currently has no sanctions against him by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, USA Track & Field or Athletics Canada.

"I tried to keep my head up and stay mentally strong but of course, that's always a tough one," De Grasse said. "Not having your coach out there who leads you through these Games and being with you all year, so definitely is a tough one."

De Grasse said he found out at the same time as everyone else.

"I didn't know the issue," he said. "Of course, I left (him) back in 2023 when everything went down, he served his time, everything was good, I went back. My federation, everybody said it was good to go, he was all cleared.

"They gave him accreditation and all of a sudden I guess there was a new case. I knew nothing about it, kind of just sprung on to me the same time you guys knew. So of course that's a tough one to swallow to try to just know about that right before you're about to run."

With the 4x100 relay opening round coming on Thursday morning, De Grasse said he'd "try to support my team any way I can."

Earlier Wednesday, Moh Ahmed failed to advance to the 5,000-metre final after falling in his heat.

The 33-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., was in the top seven with about 400 metres left in the race when he seemingly tripped over the leg of a runner in front of him and took a fall. A handful of other runners fell not long after in a similar fashion.

The top eight from each of the two qualifying heats on Wednesday advance to Saturday's final.

Ahmed, who earned silver in the event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, got up and continued running but finished 16th with a time of 14 minutes 15.76 seconds. He finished fourth in the men's 10,000-metre final last Friday.

Ahmed did not speak to media following the race. In a statement provided to The Canadian Press, Athletics Canada said Ahmed would not be able to be "reinstated" after a review.

"Unfortunately, while running in the pack Moh stood on the ankle of an athlete in front of him, which caused him to fall. We have watched the video several times with the WA (World Athletics) Video Referee and it was clear that Moh was not impeded or jostled before this happened and so it is considered his responsibility to avoid the athlete in front.

"In these circumstances he could not be reinstated."

Thomas Fafard of Repentigny, Que., did advance in eighth place in Heat 1 with a time of 14:09.37 at Stade de France.

Quebec City's Jean-Simon Desgagnes finished 13th in the men's 3,000-metre steeplechase final in a time 8:19.31. Soufiane El Bakkali or Morocco claimed the gold in 8:06.05.

In the men's 800, Edmonton's Marco Arop qualified for Friday's semifinals finishing second in Heat 1 with a time of 1:45.74. Arop is the reigning world champion in the event.

Mariam Abdul-Rashid of Oshawa, Ont., made it into the women's 100 hurdles semifinals grabbing one of three non-automatic qualifying spots with a time of 12.80 seconds and placing fifth in Heat 3.

-- With files from Morgan Lowrie.