Andre De Grasse: Usain Bolt Believes 'I'm the next One'

We knew 21-year-old Andre De Grasse was going to be the posterboy for the Canadian athletics team in Rio—we just didn't know how good he could be.

On Sunday night we got a glimpse of De Grasse's excellence, as the young Torontonian won bronze in the 100-metre sprint, running it in a personal-best 9.91 seconds.

Finishing ahead of De Grasse were favorites Usain Bolt, who won his third straight Olympic gold, and Justin Gatlin, who placed second in the event. Bolt, who solidified his status as the fastest man ever, praised De Grasse after the race.

"He came through again," Bolt said about the Canadian. "He's going to be good, he runs just like me, I mean he's really slow at the blocks but when he gets going, he gets going."

Their similar running styles are not the only thing Bolt and De Grasse have in common. De Grasse's bronze comes on the heels of a changing of the guard in sprinting, with Bolt and Gatlin's futures uncertain, De Grasse has a golden opportunity to step up and live up to the high expectations Bolt and others have put on him.

"He feels like I'm the next one," De Grasse said of Bolt. "Now I'm just trying to live up to it."

The past year has been a breakout season for De Grasse, as the Canadian won two gold medals (100m and 200m) at the Pan American Games in Toronto and two bronze medals (100m and 4x100m) at the World Championships in Beijing.

With his bronze on Sunday, De Grasse became the first Canadian male to medal in Rio after the nation's first 12 all came from women.

De Grasse still has two events to go in Rio, including the 200-metre race and 4x100 metre relay, where the Canadian phenom will get another opportunity to dethrone the world's fastest man.