Canada's Andre de Grasse wins 200-meter gold as Americans finish 2, 3, 4

ByABC News
August 4, 2021, 9:29 AM

Andre de Grasse of Canada has won the Olympic gold medal in the 200 meters five years after finishing second to Usain Bolt.

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 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.

In other medal races at the Olympic Stadium, Emmanuel Korir won gold and led a Kenyan one-two finish in the 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 won the last 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 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.