Andre De Grasse to take on Coleman in 100m head to head in London.
Established as one of the best meetings in the world, De Grasse’s presence alongside Coleman at the event sees the pair join British stars Dina Asher-Smith and Richard Whitehead in being confirmed to take to the track come July at the prestigious London Stadium.
More about the man himself…
Andre De Grasse established himself as one of the world’s best sprinters in 2015 with double world bronze in the 100m and 4x100m, achievements which undoubtedly left the Canadian hungry for more heading into Rio’s Olympic Games in 2016.
Showing no signs of being fazed at his debut Games, De Grasse went better and then some as Olympic 100m bronze was bettered by 200m silver, the latter discipline seeing him set a blistering national record of 19.80 in his semi-final as he and Bolt jogged to the line side by side in one of the Games’ iconic images.
Then just 21 years of age, De Grasse rounded off his debut Games by anchoring the Canadian 4x100m to a national record time as the quartet claimed bronze, a result which saw De Grasse make history as the first Canadian to triple medal in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at an Olympic Games.
Come the summer of 2017 De Grasse looked set to be in with a strong chance of adding to his collection of world medals and causing an upset at Bolt prepared to fare the track farewell, an eye-catching 9.69 (+4.8) serving to support this argument as he took victory at Stockholm’s Diamond League less than two months’ before London’s championships got underway.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be his time, however, as a hamstring tear just days out from the championships put paid to any plans of grabbing more sprint silverware.
Now on the comeback trail and in great health, the indications look strong once again for De Grasse as he prepares for what looks set to be one of the best sprint races of 2018 in London.
As announced previously: Christian Coleman
On the back of an electric indoor season in which he smashed the 60m world record and stormed to world indoor gold over the same distance, US star Coleman is undoubtedly the man to beat in 2018.
Entering London 2017’s IAAF World Championships as one of many underdogs behind Usain Bolt despite running a stunning 9.82 earlier in the season, the 21-year-old became the first man to beat Bolt for four years when he edged ahead of the Jamaican great to take victory in the semi-finals of the 100m.
Come the final all the post-race headlines were taken by champion Justin Gatlin and eventual bronze medallist Bolt, with Coleman’s breakthrough world silver perhaps not earning the plaudits it deserved. One week later Coleman anchored the USA 4x100m team to world silver as he doubled his major championships tally.
Stepping into 2018 in the same groove, the 22-year-old became the most talked about athlete of this year’s indoor season as he smashed the 60m world record in Albuquerque, USA, before then going on to take world 60m gold at the IAAF World Indoor Championships back in March.
The men’s 100m will take place on Saturday 21st July of the two-day meeting – more international stars are set to be announced across all events in the coming weeks and months.
Tickets for the Müller Anniversary Games can be purchased via: https://www.britishathletics.org.uk/events-and-tickets/muller-anniversary-games-2018/.