Andre De Grasse is not dealing with an injury, the Markham, Ont., sprinter’s agent says, but did experience right groin tightness “hours after” Friday’s sixth-place finish in the men’s 200 meters at the Athletissima track and field meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The six-time Olympic medallist pulled out of Sunday’s 100 at the BAUHAUS-galan competition in Stockholm for precautionary reasons.
“Andre does not have an injury. He had a bit of tightness in his groin and decided not to take a risk,” Paul Doyle of Georgia-based Doyle Management Group told CBC Sports on Monday. “He’s fine and even did a workout [on Sunday] without any discomfort.”
Doyle was in Stockholm with De Grasse and the latter’s physiotherapist who assisted coach John Coghlan at the runner’s daily training sessions.
Sunday’s race was billed as a much-anticipated showdown with 4×100 relay teammate Aaron Brown of Toronto at the seventh stop on the Diamond League calendar.
Brown was fifth in Lausanne and Sweden, where he stopped the clock at 10.27 seconds, powering through the wet conditions at Stockholm Olympic Stadium. The points earned places him third in this season’s DL standings.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine prevailed in 10.03, followed by Reece Prescott of Great Britain and Joshua Hartman of Germany.
WATCH | Brown battles wet conditions to place 5th in Sweden:
The Canadian sprinter ran a 10.27 time in the Diamond League event in Sweden.
Fellow Canadian Jerome Blake was third in the national 100 with a time of 10.30 in a race that doesn’t count toward Diamond League points.
The Kelowna, BC, natively finished behind the victorious Hartman and South Africa’s Ben Richardson.
Diamond League action resumes July 16 in Chorzów, Poland, just over a month from the Aug. 19-27 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Protesters disrupt the 400m hurdles race
Olympic champion Karsten Warholm of Norway won his 400 hurdles race and then turned to join in the crowd booing environmental protesters who disrupted his event near the finish line.
Three people kneeled on the track about eight meters from the line holding two banners that spanned from Lanes 1-6, forcing runners to break through them. No athlete appeared to be hurt.
Back to back wins for @kwarholm!
The Norwegian breezes to a comfortable victory in 47.58 in the 400m hurdles. #StockholmDL 🇸🇪´#DiamondLeague
📷 @matthewquine< /a> pic.twitter.com/ExtxHCEHRd
Warholm, running in Lane 8, had no barrier in his way though seemed distracted, with a fourth apparent protester squatting in Lane 7 seeming to photograph the incident.
He was visibly angry with the demonstrators as they were led away while the spectators boomed.
Warholm’s winning time on a cool, rainy evening was 47.57 seconds, well outside his 45.94 world record set at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.
An unusual evening’s work for Warholm included warming up in a parking garage in downtown Stockholm so, the athlete said later, he could arrive “dry and warm coming to the start.”
Duplantis short of pole vault world record
The rain wreaked havoc with numerous events, particularly the much-anticipated men’s pole vault featuring local hero Armand Duplantis.
The event was delayed for more than two hours due to safety concerns. Fans stuck around to watch more than an hour after every other event had finished and vaulters cradled cups of tea to keep warm.
Duplantis, the Olympic and world champion, cleared 6.05 meters on his first attempt to win. He then missed on three attempts at 6.23, which would have topped his world record of 6.22.
WATCH | Full coverage of BAUHAUS-galan from Stockholm:
Top athletes like Canada’s Aaron Brown visit Stockholm for this stop of the 2023 World Athletics Diamond League season.