What to watch tonight at the World Athletics Championships

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Coming into the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Canada's biggest track star had never missed the podium in his seven career individual events at the world championships or Olympics. The streak ended on Saturday when De Grasse, not in peak form after a tough bout with COVID-19 a few weeks ago, failed to advance past the semifinals of the men's 100 metres. Late last night, De Grasse confirmed the decision he'd hinted at after his 100m elimination, announcing he won't compete in his best event, the 200m, which begins tonight.

American Noah Lyles is the defending world champion in the men's 200 after his win in Doha in 2019. But De Grasse's gold-medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics last summer makes him the championship belt holder, so to speak. Now that he's vacated that unofficial title, the top contenders to claim it include a trio of Americans — Lyles, Kenny Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton — who placed second, third and fourth in Tokyo.

Knighton is the most fascinating of the bunch after nearly reaching the Olympic podium as a 17-year-old. His prodigious speed was on full display in April when he ran a 19.49 to become the fourth-fastest 200m runner of all time, behind Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Michael Johnson. Also in the mix is newly crowned 100m world champion Fred Kerley. The 27-year-old American took bronze in the 400m at the 2019 worlds before shifting focus to the shorter sprints and winning Olympic silver in the 100. On Saturday night he captured his first world title with a time of 9.86 seconds (Marvin Bracy and Trayvon Bromell rounded out an all-American