Andre de Grasse of Canada has won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 200 meters five years after finishing second to Usain Bolt, ending a string of close calls for the 26-year-old.
De Grasse won in a national-record time of 19.62 seconds, holding off two Americans for the medals.
Kenneth Bednarek won silver in a personal-best 19.68 seconds, and 2019 world champion and race favorite Noah Lyles took bronze in 19.74. Erriyon Knighton, the youngest member of the U.S. men’s track team at 17, placed fourth in 19.93.
De Grasse has now filled out a medal collection that was missing only a gold. He won bronze four nights earlier in the 100 meters to go with the third-place medal he took in Rio de Janeiro. He also won a silver in the 200 in Rio, when he famously challenged Bolt in the semifinal — drawing a playful finger wag — before being blown away by the Jamaican champion in the final.
He is the first sprint gold medalist for Canada since Donovan Bailey won the 100 at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Lyles made a mistake the night before in the semifinals, slowing down too far before the line, getting edged out for the two automatic spots, and being forced to wait to see if his time would earn him a qualifying spot.
It cost him in the final. Forced to start in Lane 3, Lyles pushed out too quickly. He had the lead heading into the homestretch but had nothing more to give.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anybody and was running for my life,” Lyles said. “I thought I was the one behind. I felt like I was the one chasing.”
In other medal races at the Olympic Stadium, Emmanuel Korir won gold and led a Kenyan 1-2 finish in the men’s 800 meters, and Peruth Chemutai of Uganda chased down American Courtney Frerichs to claim gold in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Korir pushed his way past Australia’s Peter Bol on the final turn and surged home to win in 1:45.06. It was Kenya’s fourth straight victory in the 800 at the Olympics.
Teammate Ferguson Rotich took silver with a late kick to overtake Poland’s Patryk Dobek, who held on for bronze ahead of Bol.
World-record holder David Rudisha had won the previous two Olympic gold medals in the 800, but he didn’t make Kenya’s team this year because of long-term injury problems. Clayton Murphy of the United States, the bronze medalist in 2016, finished last.
In the steeplechase, Chemutai made her move on the final lap before pulling away for the win. She set a national record with her time of 9:01.45.
Frerichs took off from the pack with around 2½ laps to go, then held on after being caught by Chemutai for silver. Hyvin Kiyeng of Kenya was third.
Emma Coburn of the United States was disqualified for what was listed as a lane infringement after finishing behind the field. She had earned bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Wojciech Nowicki of Poland finally has a gold medal after winning the men’s hammer throw.
The 32-year-old Nowicki led from the first round and improved with each of his first three attempts to reach a personal-best 82.52 meters, the winning mark.
He was a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics and won bronze medals at three world championships.
Eivind Henriksen of Norway set a national record with a 81.58-meter throw in the fifth round and finished with the silver medal. Four-time world champion Pawel Fajdek of Poland took bronze with a mark of 81.53.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
