Last summer, at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the
master-and-apprentice bond between sprinters Usain Bolt and Andre De Grasse was
cheered as the two repeatedly vied against each other – but Bolt’s reign as the
undisputed king was never in question.
This year, Bolt is in his final season on the track, a calendar dotted with
only a few races. He turns 31 in August, several weeks after the world
championship in London. Bolt has never lost a major 100-metre final. In London,
however, 22-year-old De Grasse aims to usurp Bolt’s top spot.
“He wants to send out Usain, as
much as a legend as he is, on a loss – no question,” said Stuart McMillan, De Grasse’s
coach.
The master-apprentice dynamic has evolved. The sheen of chumminess has faded.
In Rio, Bolt adopted De Grasse as a kind-of heir apparent. Now, Bolt is
cagier, attuned to a potential threat. He launched to global fame in the 100
metres at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 with a gold medal and a world record. He
plans to end his long run in London with one last gold.
De Grasse is in
Vancouver this week, and on Wednesday night he stars at the Harry Jerome
International Track Classic, billed as a “launch pad to London.” De Grasse is
confident as he approaches London. Earlier this month, before a Diamond League
meet in Rome, he declared he had a “great chance” to win the 100-metre world
championship. Soon after, at a Diamond League race in Stockholm, De Grasse ran a
blistering, but wind-aided, time of 9.69 seconds.
Bolt this week is half a world away from Vancouver. He is also set to race on
Wednesday at a meet in Ostrava,
Czech Republic, where he’s run almost every year since his youth.
Asked on Monday about being challenged by De Grasse, Bolt
responded: “I am the fastest man in the world.” Of De Grasse’s
wind-aided 9.69, Bolt said, “The possibility with a strong tailwind is endless.”
Of potential heirs to his nearly decade-long dominance, he said, “There’s a lot
of stars coming up.”
De Grasse is
poised. In Vancouver, his aim is modest, to break 10 seconds, part of an arc of
races ahead of London. The Canadian track and field championship follows next
week in Ottawa.
At a Tuesday news conference, Robert Esmie said De Grasse could win in London. Esmie, one of the four Canadian sprinters who won
gold in the 4×100-metres relay at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, conducted a
short interview with De Grasse.
“You woke him up,” Esmie said
of Bolt and De Grasse’s recent 9.69. “I feel like you’re capable
of winning that gold medal at the world championships. Trust me. He’s going to
have to work for it.”
De Grasse
smiled his easy smile. “We’re going to see. We’re going to see.”
Esmie then
referenced Bolt’s stature: 6 foot 5. De Grasse said, of his own confidence on the track:
“I feel like I’m seven foot out there.”
“Beautiful, beautiful,” Esmie said.
“You’ve got all the right answers.”
De Grasse has
the requisite confidence, his coach said.
“Bolt, he has that supreme confidence,” McMillan said. “Every time he goes on
the track, he knows he’s going to win. Going back a generation, Donovan [Bailey]
was similar. There was no question in Donovan’s mind. And Andre has the
same.”
De Grasse
remains the apprentice. He’s the one with everything to prove. Two years ago, he
announced himself with a bronze medal in the 100 metres at the world
championship in Beijing, where Bolt won gold, narrowly ahead of Justin Gatlin. It was the same three last summer in Rio:
Bolt first, Gatlin
second, De Grasse third.
De Grasse, at
22, is now around the age Bolt was when Bolt ran his greatest races back in 2008
and 2009.
“Everyone knows he’s slowing down a little bit – he’s getting older – but
he’s still the man,” De Grasse said to reporters in Vancouver.
“In order for me to have people stop talking about it, I’ve got to go out
there and beat him.”
There will be only one final showdown, in London. It’s set for the second day
of the world championship, Aug. 5, a Saturday night.
Both De Grasse and McMillan feel primed – especially of
soon breaking the long-standing Canadian record of 9.84 seconds. But beating
Bolt remains something far different, something thus far beyond the reach of all
challengers.
“I have to go out there and prove it,” De Grasse said. Not silver, not bronze. It has to be
gold, De Grasse said, “if I want to prove I’m the fastest
man in the world.”
Follow David Ebner on Twitter: @davidebner
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