Aaron Brown wins first Diamond League 100m as Canadians capture five medals in Birmingham

Canadians were in Birmingham, England for the second stop of the Diamond League track and field circuit.

This stop featured most of the same Canadian faces as last week’s opener, but one key event is different. The 100m event replaced the 200m.

READ: Arop and Lovett claim bronze in Doha

Two Canadians on the 100m podium

There were three Canadians at the start of the always highly anticipated 100m distance: Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown and Jerome Blake. The race was delayed by two false starts which disqualified American Trayvon Bromell and Briton Zharnel Hughes.

Brown took off quickly to take a slight lead, but was caught by the other runners for a close finish. Even so, Brown captured his first Diamond League 100m race with a time of 10.13 seconds. Blake was also able to step onto the podium with a third place finish (10.20 seconds). Silver was won by Jamaican Yohan Blake (10.18 seconds). Two-time Olympic 100m bronze medallist De Grasse finished just of the podium in fourth (10.24 seconds).

Django Lovett jumps to the top

After a bronze medal at the first Diamond League stop of the season, Django Lovett was ready to return to the podium in the high jump. The Canadian gave his opponents no chance by being the only one to conquer a jump of 2.28 m, to win the gold medal with his best jump of the season. Italian Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi finished second (2.25m) and Polish Norbert Kobielski rounded out the podium with bronze (2.25m).

Marco Arop with a season’s best and 800m victory

Like Lovett, Marco Arop was back on the track after claiming a bronze medal in Doha. In the Birmingham final, the Canadian stayed towards the back of the field for 500m, allowing him to save energy to take the lead with 300m to go. Arop was alone at the front, allowing him to easily win the race with a time of 1:45.41. Benjamin Robert of France and Bryce Hoppel of the United States finished second (1:46.22) and third (1:46.33) respectively.

Relay gold for Blake, Brown, De Grasse and Rodney

After an impressive start to the day Blake, Brown and De Grasse joined forces with Brendon Rodney to win gold in the 4x100m relay in 38.31 seconds. That victory came two days after the quartet was officially upgraded to the silver medal from Tokyo 2020.

Also in action, Lindsey Butterworth had a respectable seventh place finish in the women’s 800m event on Saturday.