Andre De Grasse's 200m breakthrough provides hope for world championships

This is a column by Morgan Campbell, who writes opinion for CBC Sports.  For more information about  CBC's Opinion section , please see the  FAQ .

Midway through the men's 200-metre final at the Canadian track and field championship this past Sunday, Andre De Grasse was running third, trailing Brendon Rodney and Aaron Brown, and the outlook appeared grim for the fastest 200-metre runner in Canadian history.

Brown, who is probably the most consistent high-level sprinter Canada has ever produced, has run 19.98 this season to lead all Canadians. Rodney, who runs the curve for Canada's world champion relay team, was fresh off the fastest 100-metre time of the weekend — a personal best 10.00 in the semifinals on Friday. 

As for De Grasse, most years you can pencil him in for a national championships medal in both the 100 and the 200, but 2023 isn't most years. De Grasse's best 200-metre time heading into nationals was 20.35 seconds, .63 seconds off his personal best, and .21 seconds slower than the qualifying standard for the world championships. He also finished ninth in his 100-metre semifinal at nationals, and missed the final entirely, even though his time — 10.21 seconds — tied his season best.

So with 95 metres remaining, could we have trusted him to summon the closing speed to claim a national title?

Not necessarily.

But over the final 60 metres, De Grasse overtook Brown and Rodney, looking like the Andre De Grasse we have been watching since 2015. The guy with a late-race gear few other sprinters have, who seems to gain speed with every step on the final straightaway.

Of course, that's an optical illusion. Nobody's accelerating in the second half of a 200-metre dash. Most people slow down a lot. De