Christian Coleman looked strong in his first 200m in two years, but Andre De Grasse clocked his fastest 200m in nearly three years on Thursday.
De Grasse, the Olympic silver medalist from Canada, won in 19.91 seconds, overtaking Coleman in the final straight on a wet track at a lower-level meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic. De Grasse put up his fastest time since the Rio Olympic semifinals after season-ending hamstring injuries the last two summers.
Coleman, the world’s fastest man in the 100m in 2019, clocked 19.97. Coleman re-added the 200m to his lineup as he looks to make the U.S. team for this fall’s world championships in both sprints.
Coleman is expected to go up against the world’s fastest 200m runner in this Olympic cycle, rival Noah Lyles (19.65), at the USATF Outdoor Championships next month. The top three at nationals are in line to make the team for worlds. Coleman will race the 100m at nationals before the 200m, while Lyles is expected to race solely the 200m.
Coleman ranks fifth in the U.S. in the 200m this year, though the world’s fastest 200m runner in 2019, Michael Norman (19.70), is expected to stick to the 400m only at nationals.
An hour before Thursday’s 200m, De Grasse ran his fastest wind-legal 100m in two years, taking second to U.S. Olympian Mike Rodgers, 10.04 to 10.05.
Also Thursday, Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran the fastest women’s 300m in history, a 34.41. The previous record, held by 2004 Olympic 400m silver medalist Ana Guevara of Mexico, was 35.30 in the rarely contested event.
The track and field season continues with the next Diamond League stop, the Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, Calif., on June 30, live on NBC.
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