De Grasse concludes Grand Slam Track debut with 4th-place finish in 200m
Kelowna, B.C.'s Blake races to 6th in 200m; Toronto's Stafford 8th in women's 800m
Canada's Andre De Grasse and Jerome Blake finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the overall men's short sprints group at the conclusion of Grand Slam Track's three-day meet in Miramar, Fla., on Sunday.
In the 200-metre race, the 29-year-old De Grasse, of Markham, Ont., placed fourth with a season-best time of 20.23, while Blake, 29, of Kelowna, B.C., finished sixth in 20.40 seconds.
Topping the podium was the meet's overall men's short sprint winner Kenny Bednarek of the United States, who clocked in with a world-leading time of 19.84.
Zarnell Hughes of Britain was runner-up after finishing in 20.13 seconds, narrowly fending off Jamaica's Oblique Seville who ran the same time.
WATCH | Bednarek wins Slam title in Miami, De Grasse and Blake miss podium:
On Saturday, Bednarek won the 100 in a time of 9.79 — a race Blake and De Grasse finished seventh and eighth in, respectively.
Bednarek claimed his second men's short sprint Slam title after winning at the inaugural meet in Kingston, Jamaica, in April.
De Grasse and Blake, members of Canada's Olympic gold-medal winning 4x100 team at the Paris Games, were both making their Grand Slam Track debut over the weekend.
Toronto middle-distance runner Lucia Stafford was last in a field of eight in the women's 800 metres a day after placing sixth in the 1,500.
Racing her first outdoor 800 this year, the 26-year-old was positioned at the back of the pack with about 250 metres left in the first of two 400m laps and wasn't able to climb higher.
Stafford's finishing time of two minutes 4.93 seconds was her slowest in the distance since July 28, 2018 when she went 2:05.62 in Belgium.
The two-time Olympian raced three 800s outdoors in 2024 with a season best of 2:00.50 last June 4 at the Royal City inferno Track and Field Festival in Guelph, Ont.
Mary Moraa of Kenya won Sunday's race in 1:59.51 over American Nikki Hiltz (1:59.75) and Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu (1:59.84), who also beat Hiltz in Saturday's 1,500 to win the short distance title in Florida.
Stafford, who was last in the two-day competition, will take home $10,000 for her performance.
Grand Slam Track is the brainchild of American sprinting great, Michael Johnson. The four-stop tour will also hold events in Philadelphia (May 30-June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27-29).
In Grand Slam Track, athletes race twice in different events during a three-day meet, earning points based on their placing in each race. The runner with the most cumulative points from their two races wins their group and the top prize of $100,000 US.
The total prize pool for the Grand Slam Track events is $12.6 million US.
