Sprinter De Grasse clinches spot in Diamond League Final, joining fellow Canadians Arop, Mitton

It wasn’t his fastest 200-metre race of the season but enough for Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse to earn a fifth trip to the Diamond League Final next week.

The 2023 Diamond League champion performed strongly over the final 50 metres at the Weltklasse Zürich meet on Thursday, reaching the finish in 20.03 seconds behind American Kenny Bednarek, who clocked a world-leading 19.62, and South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile (19.82).

It was De Grasse’s first 200 since a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet on June 26 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he won in 19.95.

The Markham, Ont., athlete also prevailed in his 2026 season opener in 19.84 on April 26 at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix before a fifth-place showing May 31 at the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco.

American Bednarek wins 200m, Canada's De Grasse 3rd at Diamond League in Zurich

De Grasse, 31, holds the Canadian record of 19.62 from his 2021 Olympic final victory in Tokyo.

On Sept. 17, 2023, the seven-time Olympic medallist shocked the field at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., to become Canada’s first Diamond League Trophy recipient since Dylan Armstrong in shot put 12 years earlier.

Andre De Grasse stuns field to capture Diamond League 200m title

In his 2019 Diamond League Final debut, De Grasse was third (19.87). He improved to second two years later (19.72) and was sixth in 2022 (20.43).

He will try to be the country’s first Diamond League champion since Sarah Mitton won women's shot put two years ago in Brussels.

Belgium will also be the site of the Sept. 4-5 Final, with the men’s 200 field featuring Dambile, who topped this year’s standings with 42 points. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (30), Bednarek (24), Zimbabwe’s Makanakaishe Charamba (24), Courtney Lindsey