It was Andre de Grasse’s time. 

After years of living in the shadows of and falling just short to Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, de Grasse broke through in the men’s 200 meters Wednesday at the Tokyo Olympics. With a time of 19.62 seconds, de Grasse, of Canada, captured his first-ever gold medal, edging out Americans Kenneth Bednarek and Noah Lyles, who took silver and bronze, respectively. In the win, de Grasse set a new personal best and surpassed the Canadian record he had set just a day earlier in the semifinal. 

“It’s my first time being so emotional on the track,” de Grasse said. “I always felt like I came up short winning bronze and silver, so it’s just good to just have that gold medal. No one can take that away from me.” 

De Grasse is the first man not named Usain Bolt to win the 200 meters at the Olympics since 2004, when American sprinter Shawn Crawford finished first at the Athens Games. De Grasse is also the first Canadian to win the event since Percy Williams in 1928. 

While Bednarek, who finished with a personal best of 19.68, seemingly came off the blocks more quickly than the rest, Lyles went into overdrive coming off the turn. It might have been too soon, as both de Grasse and Bednarek closed in the final 50 meters. 

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anybody and was running for my life,” said Lyles, who beat de Grasse in the same event in the 2019 World Championships. “I thought I was the one behind. I felt like I was the one chasing.” 

All three medalists clocked in times under 20 seconds, with de Grasse staving off a potential American sweep. Erriyon Knighton of the U.S., the youngest track finalist in Olympic history at 17, finished fourth in 19.93 seconds. 

De Grasse came to Tokyo with three Olympic medals and four world championship medals to his name. During the 200 meters in the 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, de Grasse had to settle for a silver medal behind Bolt, whose dominance in the 100 and 200 dated to 2008’s Beijing Games. 

Bolt retired after the 2017 World Championships, opening the door for de Grasse to step into the spotlight. 

The 26-year-old has now won two medals in Tokyo, after defending his bronze medal in the 100 meters Saturday (he came in third in the 100 at Rio, too). He had been known as one of the best sprinters in the world for several years, but adding an Olympic gold to his résumé certainly further solidified that notion. 

After the Rio Games, de Grasse battled through hamstring issues throughout 2017 and 2018. But he has looked to be in tip-top shape in Tokyo. 

“There were times when I wanted to give up after getting injured,” he told reporters last week. “I worked really hard to come back from my injuries. I never gave up on myself.”