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Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse withdraws from national championship with COVID

Jun 21, 2022 | 8:14 AM

Sprint star Andre De Grasse will miss the Canadian track and field championships this week after testing positive for COVID-19.

The six-time Olympic medallist was rounding into form, winning the 100 metres at the Oslo Diamond League meet last week in a season’s best 10.05 seconds.

“”I’m obviously pretty disappointed not to be able to race at home in front of the Canadian fans in Langley. Hopefully I can get back to training pretty quickly and prepare for the rest of the season,” De Grasse said in a statement.

De Grasse is among several high profile athletes to withdraw from the Canadian championships in Langley, B.C.

Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner, distance runners Moh Ahmed, Justyn Knight and Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, and Paralympic star Brent Lakatos were among the late scratches for the meet which begins Wednesday.

The world track and field championships are July 15-24 in Eugene, Ore.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2022. 

The Canadian Press