Canada's Andre De Grasse anchors relay team to win at Harry Jerome Classic
Men's 4x100 squad sets meet record as Canada wins sprint challenge against China
Sprint stars Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown led Canada's relay team to an easy win on Wednesday night at the Harry Jerome International Track Classic in Burnaby, B.C.
De Grasse anchored the men's 4x100 team to a meet record of 38.42 seconds ahead of the Chinese squad. Gavin Smellie gave Canada an early lead before handing off to Brown, and Mobolade Ajomale kept the momentum going into the final leg.
On Tuesday, Brown won the 100, beating De Grasse. The 2016 triple Olympic medallist finished third, with China's Xu Zhouzheng second.
Both events were part of the Jerome meet's China-Canada Sprint Challenge, which featured men's and women's teams of 10 athletes each competing in the 100 and 400 metres, plus the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. After the points were tallied up, Canada took home $30,000 in prize money.
De Grasse was using the Jerome meet to try to return to form after a few disappointing results in the Diamond League.
The 23-year-old from Markham, Ont., is coming back from a Grade 2 hamstring strain which forced him to miss last year's world track and field championships. He also sat out this year's Commonwealth Games.
In the women's 4x100, the Chinese team posted a new meet record of 43.75 to upset the Canadians, who struggled with the exchange.
Lindsey Butterworth from North Vancouver, B.C., won the women's 800, crossing the line in a time of 2:02.47.
Smellie continued to roll after helping Canada win the 4x100 relay, narrowly beating out Jerome Blake in the men's 200 in 20.72.
Canada swept the podium in the women's 400, with Aiyanna Stiverne clocking the winning time of 53.03.
The Canadian men took the top two spots in the 400, as Philip Osei edged Daniel Harper in 46.81.
In other results, Canada's Farah Jacques won the women's 100 hurdles, while Jessica O'Connell claimed the 1,500.
With files from the Canadian Press