De Grasse advances to Olympic men's 100m semis, fellow Canadian Brown DQ'd

Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse qualified for the men's 100-metre semifinal at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, while fellow Canadian Aaron Brown missed his chance to compete for a spot due to a false start.

De Grasse, who won the last two Olympic bronze medals in the event, clocked a time of 10.07 seconds to finish third in the penultimate heat, edging Liberia's Emmanuel Matadi for the final qualifying spot in their group by just one-hundredth of a second.

The 29-year-old from Markham, Ont., was under immediate pressure after the starting gun, as second-place finisher Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon got off to a strong start next to him while American Kenny Bednarek pulled away for first place in 9.97, winning by one-hundredth of a second.

De Grasse posted a personal-best time of 9.89 seconds in the 100 final at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He is the reigning Olympic champion in the men's 200 metres.

He owns a season best of 10.00 seconds, which he ran in Finland, meeting the Olympic standard on June 18.

Toronto's Aaron Brown failed to advance after getting disqualified for a false start in the eighth and final heat, which was ultimately won by American star Fred Kerley in 9.97. Botswana's Letsile Tebogo (10.01) and Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes (10.03) also qualified.

Duan Asemota of Ajax, Ont., placed fifth in the fourth heat in 10.17.

The semifinals kick off Sunday at 2:05 p.m. ET, with the final set for later that day at 3:50 p.m. ET. Watch live coverage on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Olympics app and CBC Gem.

WATCH l De Grasse lone Canadian to reach men's 100m semifinals:

Noah Lyles finished second in his opening heat but still advanced and kept alive his hopes for the sprint double.

The American got off to a sluggish