De Grasse 'shocks The World' As American Sprinting Drought Continues

Andre de Grasse said he had "shocked the world" after storming to victory in the Olympic 200 metres final on Wednesday as the United States' 17-year sprinting gold medal drought continued

Tokyo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Aug, 2021 ) :Andre de Grasse said he had "shocked the world" after storming to victory in the Olympic 200 metres final on Wednesday as the United States' 17-year sprinting gold medal drought continued.

Canadian star de Grasse completed a long road back from injury and illness to win gold in 19.62sec, with the USA's Kenny Bednarek taking silver in 19.68sec and world 200m champion Noah Lyles the bronze in 19.74sec.

The victory came five years after de Grasse announced his arrival among the elite of international sprinting with a silver medal in the 200m behind Usain Bolt at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

"I want everyone to know that I shocked the world," said de Grasse, who also took silver in the 200m behind Lyles at the 2019 world championships.

De Grasse's 200m victory in Tokyo and the 100m triumph of Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs mean that the US remains without a victory in the individual Olympic men's short sprints since 2004.

By the time of the next Olympics in Paris it will be 20 years since Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford completed a 100-200 US double at the Athens Games.

Lyles had been strongly tipped to end that losing streak in Tokyo, but was unable to respond as de Grasse controlled Wednesday's final from start to finish.

"I know everyone was saying that the Americans were going to win," de Grasse said.

"But this was my moment, I knew I had it in me, and I just wanted to come out here and get the job done."