Canada has another gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
Derek Drouin won gold today for Canada, beating out Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko in the high jump competition.
Drouin appeared poised to land on the podium from the start, clearing his jumps early on with ease.
5/5 on jumps so far. #CAN Derek Drouin clears 2.36m #Rio2016 https://t.co/5zZ0DtxfbK https://t.co/QyosFHcX1S
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 17, 2016
He was guaranteed to medal after clearing the 2.36 m marker, as only Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko could achieve the same feat.
From there, the only thing to be decided was what colour Drouin’s medal would be.
Drouin cleared the next height of 2.38 m, then watched as Barshim and Bondarenko missed their attempts, securing the gold for Canada.
#CAN Derek Drouin clears 2.38m. He is guaranteed a medal in high jump. Which colour remains to be seen. https://t.co/UFzWSGggFu
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 17, 2016
Drouin cleared all six of his jumps on the first attempt. He didn’t miss a jump until he barely knocked the bar down attempting the Olympic record of 2.40 m, having already secured gold by that time.
Derek Drouin calls it a night after winning #Gold and going for, but missing, the Olympic record at 2.40m https://t.co/cO7AeiHYpa
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 17, 2016
The 26-year-old now has a gold to go with his bronze medal win from London in 2012. It’s our third medal from athletics in these Olympics, and the first gold Canada’s won in athletics in twenty years.
Drouin is only the second Canadian to ever win gold in the high jump event, the first since Duncan McNaughton in 1932.