Athletics Canada – After Mohammed Ahmed electrified the Canadian supporters both inside Khalifa International Stadium and blew up Twitter after his bronze medal win in the men’s 5000-metres, it was Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse’s turn once again under the spotlight in the men’s 200-metre final.
 
With both Brown and De Grasse racing for a spot on the podium, it marks the first time in Athletics Canada history that two Canadians qualified for the 200-metre finals at a World Championships.
 
Already with a bronze medal to his name from the 100-metres, De Grasse came out of the blocks flying around the curve. Running in lane 7, the 24 year-old from Markham, Ontario continued to show the world he is back to doing what he does best. Stretching at the finish line, De Grasse would edge out Adam Gemili of Great Britain to finish with a time of 19.95, claiming his second medal of these World Championships, this time a silver medal.
 
“It feels good pretty good to get a silver medal here,” said De Grasse. “I feel like I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish. I came here to Doha, Qatar to podium, hopefully in a couple days we can get a medal in the 4×100-metre relay.”
 
For the Canadian champion in this event, Brown put on a strong race for himself as well. Starting out in lane 3, he quickly gained ground off the curve before making his way to a sixth place finish with a final time of 20.10. “I gave it everything I had,” said Brown. “I’m not happy with sixth but it keeps me hungry, it’s fuel for the fire.”
 
Starting off Day 5 in the field, the duo of Michael Mason and Django Lovett took to the high jump pit, hoping to fly into the men’s high jump final on Friday. A clean and consistent performance for Mason, the 33 year-old cleared the first four heights on his first attempt before using a second attempt on 2.29-metre. He sits in sixth place heading into the final.
 
“Everything went really well,” said Mason. “I just had that one miss at 2.29 but felt really good, maybe just missed my mark a little bit. I made the adjustment and made it with a good clearance on my second attempt. It was a good outcome today, everything just lined up as we wanted.”
 
On the track, Philip Osei and Sage Watson kept the momentum going in the men’s 400-metres and women’s 400-metre hurdles. Osei ran a strong race in the men’s 400-metres, driving through the finish line with a time of 45.87 for second place in his heat to auto-qualify for the semifinals. Watson was next up to join Osei by qualifying for the women’s 400-metre hurdle semifinals with a time of 55.57. Both will return to the track on Day 6 to compete for their spot in the respective finals.
 
On their race, Osei says he’ll be ready for the semifinals. “I executed pretty well, still have to work on a few things, but I think I’ll be able to clean it up in the semifinals.”
 
Added Watson, “It was my first time running on this track, I got it figured out now. I made a few errors that I need to fit tomorrow but I ready to run something fast, I can feel it.”
 
After the women’s trio of Genevieve Lalonde, Maria Bernard, and Regan Yee competed earlier in the championships, it was the men’s turn at the 3000-metre steeplechase. The trio of Matthew Hughes, John Gay and Ryan Smeeton each stepped onto the track in their own separate heats, ending with Hughes running a season’s best time of 8:13.12 and will enter the final with the fourth fastest time from qualifiers.
 
“It was good, it was a fast time,” said Hughes. “It’s always nice to get the auto-qualifier but I saw the time and thought I don’t need the auto-qualifier, a lot of this is about conserving as much energy as possible. It was a quick time and it gets me in so I’m not too worried.”
 
Gay and Smeeton took their first World Championships experience and learned as much as they could to improve their own performances. “It’s an honour to represent Canada and to watch Matt run in that first section, it really bolstered my confidence seeing him run so well and collected. Ryan and I have so much to learn from him and it was on full display today,” said Gay.
 
In the women’s 200-metre semi-final, Crystal Emmanuel gave it her all on around the curve, finishing with a season’s best 22.65 to finish third in her heat. After waiting for the rest of the heats to be completed, Emmanuel’s time would just miss out on the women’s final by a mere 0.05 seconds.
 
Halfway through the 2019 IAAF Doha World Athletics Championships, Canada has earned three bronze medals, with more opportunities to come. Damian Warner and Pierce LePage will get their decathlon started on Day 6, while Brittany Crew and Sarah Mitton look for a strong performance in the women’s shot put. Gabriela DeBues-Stafford will make her return to the World Championships, more than ready this time around, in the women’s 1500-metre heats, followed by Rachel Cliff looking to take advantage of the opportunity presented in the women’s 5000-metre heats.