Canada’s fastest man says “pressure makes diamonds.”
And on Friday night he shined brightly.
Aaron Brown repeated as the national 100 metre champion at the Canadian Track and Field championships at Montreal’s Claude Robillard stadium, beating the man even he acknowledges was the crowd favourite, Andre De Grasse.
Three false starts in De Grasse’s qualifying heat didn’t shake the two-time Olympic medalist. He went in to win it with a time of 9.98 seconds.
Brown responded in his heat winning with 9.96 seconds.
Approximately two hours later, the pair lined up for what most of the packed stands came to see in the men’s 100 metre final.
Placed next to each other in the middle of eight lanes, they took off when the gun when off.
Unlike earlier, there were no false starts.
The finish was so close it took what seemed like a lifetime, in fact it was four minutes until the slow motion replays and photo finish could determine the winner.
They both officially ran 10.03 seconds, but in milliseconds the difference was: Brown with 10.021 vs. De Grasse at 10.024.
Brown jumped for joy, while De Grasse could only continue to look at the screen.
He said after the race, “Thought I had it, perhaps cause he is taller.”
And he vowed to “work on his start.”
As for Brown, he says the win “means the world to me.” And he reflected that, “if I didn't win, (last year’s win) would have been nullified in the media.”
He wanted to “make sure (he) didn’t get lost in the fold.”
The 27 year old says “Sport is emotionally and mentally draining.”
He started a YouTube channel to show what it takes to get through the tough times and onto the podium.
His next podcast should be interesting.
