By Canadian Press

Canada’s Brown bounces back from blocks mishap to clinch spot in world 200 semis

Jul 18, 2022 | 9:17 PM

EUGENE, Ore. — Canada’s Django Lovett tied for sixth in the men’s high jump at the world track and field championships on Monday.

The 30-year-old from Surrey, B.C., cleared 2.27 metres to match Luis Enrique Zayas of Cuba.

Lovett, who’s named for Django Reinhardt, the French jazz guitarist, didn’t miss a bar through the competition before three misses at 2.30 metres.

Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar cleared 2.37 to capture his third consecutive world title, screaming at the camera after: “Woo! I AM high jump!”

Barshim — who famously asked if he and Italian Gianmarco Tamberi could share gold at the Tokyo Olympics, rather than continue a jump-off, one of the highlights of the Games — tried one attempt at 2.42, but failed. It would have been a championship record.

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Woo Sanghyeok of South Korea won the silver, with a jump of 2.35, while Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko claimed the bronze (2.33). Tamberi was fourth

Earlier in the night, Canada’s Aaron Brown overcame a mishap with his starting blocks Monday to clinch a spot in the 200-metre semifinals.

The 30-year-old from Toronto was second in his heat in 20.60 seconds to automatically advance to the semis.

The start of Brown’s heat was called back after his starting blocks slipped, shooting backwards as he fell forward.

“It felt fine,” said Brown, who finished eighth in the 100 on Saturday. “I ran like maybe 70 per cent (effort), just because after the first time when I slipped out of the blocks, I felt a little bit of a cramp in my quad.

“Didn’t want to risk it. I just wanted to be conservative, and just do what I had to do to get through.”

Jerome Blake of Burnaby, B.C., was third in his heat in 20.30 to advance to Tuesday’s semis. The final is Thursday.

The 200 field is missing Canada’s Olympic champion Andre De Grasse, who withdrew after saying he’s still not 100 per cent healthy after contracting COVID-19 about a month ago. De Grasse was eliminated in the 100 semifinals on Saturday.

Defending world champion Noah Lyles of the U.S. was the fastest qualifier in 19.98.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2022.

The Canadian Press