Andre De Grasse

Andre De Grasse (born November 10, 1994) is a Canadian sprinter. He won the silver medal in the 200 m and bronze medals in both the 100 m and 4×100 m relay at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. De Grasse was the Pan American champion and the NCAA champion in the 100 m and 200 m. De Grasse won the bronze in the 100 m and the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. He also won the bronze in the 100 m and the silver in the 200 m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha. He is the current Canadian record holder in the 200m.

Andre De Grasse
De Grasse at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
NationalityCanadian
Born (1994-11-10) November 10, 1994
Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[1]
ResidenceJacksonville, Florida, U.S.[2]
Height176 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight70 kg (154 lb)[1]
Sport
CountryCanada
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Sprints
College teamUSC Trojans (2015)
Coffeyville Red Ravens (2013–2014)
ClubALTIS (2015–2018)[3]
TeamPuma
Coached by
  • Stuart McMillan (2015–2018)[3]
  • Rana Reider (2018 – present)[2]
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)

De Grasse is the first Canadian sprinter to win three medals in a single Olympics. His feat bettered the two medals in a single Olympics that were won by Canadian legends Donovan Bailey and Percy Williams.

Early and personal life

Andre De Grasse was born in Scarborough, Ontario.[7] His mother, Beverley De Grasse, was a high school sprinter in Trinidad and Tobago before she moved to Canada at age 26.[7] His father, Alexander Waithe, moved from Barbados to Canada as a teenager.[8] By the time Andre was born, his parents separated.[8]

Raised in Markham, Ontario, he went to St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic Elementary School in Scarborough from kindergarten to the second grade and later transferred to Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School in Markham to continue until grade eight where he won his first race in 2006.[9] He also attended Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy and Milliken Mills High School. De Grasse is a Roman Catholic having been influenced by his mother's faith. He has the word "hope" and a prayer tattooed on his arm.[10]

In his first race De Grasse ran wearing basketball shorts and flat shoes and using no starting blocks, he secured a time of 10.9 seconds in a 100 m race.[11] He was spotted by future coach Tony Sharpe who noticed his potential because of this. At the 2013 Canada Games De Grasse won three gold medals in the 100, 200, and 4×100-metre relay. He attended Coffeyville Community College in 2013 and 2014 before transferring to USC for his junior season in 2015. In 2016, he established Andre De Grasse Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament, a charity event that supports Andre De Grasse Family Foundation.[12] In September 2017, he appeared at WE Day, a WE Charity event in Toronto.[13] De Grasse also created and participates annually in a basketball tournament named "Holiday Classic at Markham" at Pan Am Centre. All proceeds from the tournament go to the Andre De Grasse Family Foundation.[14]

He and his partner, American hurdler Nia Ali, have a daughter, born June 2018.[15]

Career

Amateur career

De Grasse's legal 100 m time of 9.97 to win the Pac-12 championship in May 2015 was the first time he ran under 10 seconds. At the 2015 100 m NCAA championships De Grasse ran a wind-assisted time of 9.75 to win; the wind was +2.7 m/s.[16] The 9.75 made him the seventh fastest man in the world and fastest Canadian in any conditions.[17] Also at the 2015 NCAA Championships, De Grasse produced a wind-aided 19.58 (+2.4) 200 metres. That was nearly a half a second faster than his own national record set four weeks earlier. After the race, with encouragement from his friends to keep going in the pursuit of titles, he said "So I ask myself...world champion? Olympic champion? Why not me? I've come this far, and I've only scratched the surface. I want to keep it going. Track is fun to me, and as long as it stays this way, I expect to keep getting better."[18]

2015: Pan American champion and World double medalist

De Grasse's next major event was the 2015 Pan American Games held in his home province of Ontario, Canada where he won the gold medal in the 100m with a time of 10.05.[19] Earlier in the semi-final, he ran a 9.97 on his way to the final. After the race, De Grasse said of the home crowd that "Aw, it was great. I think they gave me an extra boost of energy, the crowd was amazing, I hear them cheering my name and screaming my name."[20] De Grasse also won the gold medal in the 200m at the 2015 Pan American Games with a time of 19.88.[21] De Grasse became the first Canadian in history to run both a sub-10 in the 100 metres and sub-20 in the 200.[22] He appeared to win a third Pan Am Games gold when he ran the second leg of the 4 x 100m relay, in which the Canadian team came first in the race with a Games record of 38.06. However, the team was later disqualified two hours after the race for a lane infringement by Gavin Smellie.[23]

The 2015 World Championships in Athletics took place in Beijing. At the event De Grasse ran sub-10-second times in the heat and semi-final on his way to the eighth lane in the final. There, De Grasse tied for the bronze medal with American Trayvon Bromell in the 100m, running a 9.92. He became the first Canadian to win a medal in track's marquee event since Bruny Surin raced to silver in 1999.[24] After the final De Grasse said "I didn't know who had won the race, I didn't know you could actually tie with someone for a bronze medal. So I am very happy for Trayvon and proud of myself to come away with a personal best. To race against these guys and make the final, I couldn't end the season any better than that. I can't let [the lane assignment] distract me. At the end of the day, it's the 100m final. This was the biggest race of my life so I wasn't going to think about no lane assignment. I had a lot of confidence after the semi-finals, being that close to Bolt, and that raised my confidence for the final."[24] De Grasse also participated in the 4 × 100m relay where he won a second bronze medal, running a 38.13 together with Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Justyn Warner.

De Grasse turned professional in December 2015, signing with Puma for $11.25 million.[25][26][27][28]

2016: Summer Olympics
De Grasse and Bolt after running the 100 m final at the 2016 Olympics.

In July 2016, he was named to Canada's Olympic team.[29] De Grasse advanced to the finals of the 100m at the 2016 Summer Olympics after running a time of 10.04 in his heat and then 9.92 in the semi-finals. De Grasse placed third and received the bronze medal behind Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin, at 9.91 seconds, which was his personal best time. He was the first male athlete to win a medal for Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Bolt was visibly supportive of De Grasse during both the semis and finals, hugging him after the race and saying to reporters "He came through again. 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."[30] De Grasse said of his relationship with Bolt after that "We were just having some fun. Me (sic) and Usain met back in January, we did a lot of things together. He feels like I'm the next one, and now I'm just trying to live up to it."[30] Former Canadian Olympic Champion Donovan Bailey was seen jumping up and down in the CBC Sports studio, cheering on De Grasse. After, he said, "I'm shaking. This is great for track and field in Canada."[30]

De Grasse followed up his bronze medal win in the 100m by advancing to the semi-finals of the 200 m with a time of 20.09, the fastest time in the first round. In the semi-finals, De Grasse set a new Canadian record and advanced to the finals with a time of 19.80, thereby becoming the first Canadian to make it to the finals of the 200m since Atlee Mahorn at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.[31] In the 200m final, De Grasse won a silver medal taking 20.02 seconds to earn his second Olympic medal, the first Canadian to win a medal in the 200m since Percy Williams at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

De Grasse ran the anchor for the finals of the 4 x 100 m relay and initially placed fourth with a Canadian record of 37.64s. However, the American team that placed third was disqualified for a zone violation (handing over the baton outside of the designated zone) at the first baton change, and so the Canadians were awarded the bronze medal.[32] De Grasse ran in the finals with Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Akeem Haynes, while Mobolade Ajomale ran in his stead in the heats.

2017: World Championships

Going into the 2017 World Championships in Athletics De Grasse was performing strongly, a gold medal favourite in the 200m and relishing an opportunity to beat Bolt in his final 100m in London.[33][34] Previously, De Grasse ran a wind-aided 9.69 over the 100m at the Stockholm Diamond League event, putting his chance of beating Bolt very high. However, just days before the world championships, De Grasse strained his hamstring and was forced to pull out of both events.[35]

2018: Commonwealth Games

On January 10, 2018, De Grasse was named to Canada's 2018 Commonwealth Games team.[36][37][38] However, he had withdrawn before the games began due to his hamstring injury.[39]

2019: Diamond League and World Championships

Following the injuries and other disappointments in the preceding two years, De Grasse, moved his training base from Arizona to Jacksonville, training under Rana Reider.[40] Competing internationally, he won his first Diamond League victory in two years at the Rabat 200m event, beating the reigning World champion Ramil Guliyev.[41] Ultimately, he would finish on the podium in five of seven 100m events and all six 200m in the leadup to the World Championships.[40]

Named to the Canadian team to the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, De Grasse opened the competition by winning bronze in the 100m event, his first World Championship medal in four years.[42] Competing next in the 200m, he won the silver medal behind Noah Lyles. De Grasse commented that he tired slightly toward the end of the race, but that "I'm not disappointed. I didn't think I'd be here a year ago." This was the first World Championship medal for a Canadian in the 200m since Atlee Mahorn in 1991.[43]

Honours

De Grasse's success at the Olympics led to his winning the Lionel Conacher Award as the Canadian Press' male athlete of the year,[44] and be presented with the Rising Star Award by the IAAF.[45] In April 2017 De Grasse was a recipient of a Harry Jerome Award.[46]

Statistics

Information from IAAF profile or Track & Field Results Reporting System unless otherwise noted.[47][48][49]

Personal bests
EventTimeWind (m/s)CompetitionVenueDateNotes
60 m6.60n/aFrank Sevigne InvitationalLincoln, Nebraska, U.S.February 7, 2015
100 m9.90+0.6World ChampionshipsDoha, QatarSeptember 28, 2019
9.69 w+4.8BAUHAUS-galanStockholm, SwedenJune 18, 2017Wind-assisted
200 m19.80−0.3Olympic GamesRio de Janeiro, BrazilAugust 17, 2016NR[6]
19.58 w+2.4NCAA Division I ChampionshipsEugene, Oregon, U.S.June 12, 2015Wind-assisted
200 m indoor20.26n/aNCAA Division I Indoor ChampionshipsFayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.March 14, 2015Indoor NR[50]
4×100 m relay37.64n/aOlympic GamesRio de Janeiro, BrazilAugust 19, 2016NR [note 1][51]
4×200 m relay1:19.20n/aFlorida RelaysGainesville, Florida, U.S.April 2, 2016NR [note 2][52]

Seasonal bests

International championship results
Year Competition Venue Position EventTimeWind Notes
Representing  Canada
2013Pan American Junior ChampionshipsMedellín, Colombia2nd100 m10.36+1.8
3rd200 m20.74NWI
2014Commonwealth GamesGlasgow, Scotland5th (semi 3)200 m20.73+0.2
DNF4×100 m relay–n/a
2015Pan American GamesToronto, Ontario, Canada1st100 m10.05+1.1
1st200 m19.88+0.3PB
DQ4×100 m relay38.06n/aLane violation[53]
World ChampionshipsBeijing, China3rd100 m9.92−0.5PB
3rd4×100 m relay38.13n/a
2016Olympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil3rd100 m9.91+0.2PB
2nd200 m20.02−0.5
3rd4×100 m relay37.64n/aNR[51]
2017World RelaysNassau, BahamasDNF4×100 m relay–n/a
1st4×200 m relay1:19.42n/aWL[54]
2019World RelaysYokohama, Japan3rd (semi 3)4×100 m relay38.76n/a
World ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar3rd100 m9.90+0.6PB
2nd200 m19.95+0.3

National championship results
Year Competition Venue Position EventTimeWind Notes
Representing the Coffeyville Red Ravens
2013NJCAA Indoor ChampionshipsLubbock, Texas, U.S.1st55 m6.21n/aPB
3rd200 m21.11n/aPB
NJCAA Division I ChampionshipsHutchinson, Kansas, U.S.1st100 m9.96 w+5.0Wind-assisted
8th200 m21.47 w+4.0Wind-assisted
2nd4×100 m relay39.88n/aPB
Canadian ChampionshipsMoncton, New Brunswick, Canada4th100 m10.35+0.2
Canadian Junior ChampionshipsSainte-Thérèse, Quebec, Canada1st100 m10.53−2.1
1st200 m20.90−2.1
2014NJCAA Indoor ChampionshipsNew York, New York, U.S.1st60 m6.71n/a
1st200 m21.01n/a
NJCAA Division I ChampionshipsMesa, Arizona, U.S.2nd100 m10.15+0.9PB
1st200 m20.38+0.5PB
Canadian ChampionshipsMoncton, New Brunswick, Canada2nd100 m10.41−1.8
4th200 m21.05 w+2.3Wind-assisted
Representing the USC Trojans
2015NCAA Division I Indoor ChampionshipsFayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.DQ60 m–n/aFalse start
2nd200 m20.26n/aNR, PB[50]
NCAA Division I ChampionshipsEugene, Oregon, U.S.1st100 m9.75 w+2.7Wind-assisted
1st200 m19.58 w+2.4Wind-assisted
4th4×100 m relay38.75n/aSB
Canadian ChampionshipsEdmonton, Alberta, Canada1st100 m9.95+1.5PB
Representing Puma
2016Canadian ChampionshipsEdmonton, Alberta, Canada1st100 m9.99−0.1SB
3rd200 m20.32+1.1
2017Canadian ChampionshipsOttawa, Ontario, Canada1st100 m10.11+0.8
1st200 m19.96 w+2.7Wind-assisted
2018Canadian ChampionshipsOttawa, Ontario, Canada3rd100 m10.20+0.1
2019Canadian ChampionshipsMontreal, Quebec, Canada2nd100 m10.03+0.1

Circuit wins

100 m

200 m
  • Diamond League
    • Birmingham: 2016
    • Rome: 2017
    • Rabat: 2017, 2019

Notes
  1. Shared with Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown, and Brendon Rodney for Canada.[51]
  2. Shared with Gavin Smellie, Brendon Rodney, and Aaron Brown for Canada.[52]

References
  1. "Andre De Grasse". olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  2. Cherry, Gene (28 December 2018). "Sprinter Andre De Grasse switches coaches, now trains in Florida". reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  3. Henry, Anson (30 December 2015). "Andre De Grasse changes coaches, joins ALTIS training group". CBC Sports. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  4. "Andre DE GRASSE | Profile". iaaf.org. IAAF. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  5. "100 Metres Men: IAAF World Athletics Championships, DOHA 2019". iaaf.org. IAAF. 28 September 2019.
  6. S.M. Walsh (18 August 2016). "Andre De Grasse: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". heavy.com. Heavy.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  7. Reid, Scott (14 May 2015). "USC sprinter Andre De Grasse makes huge strides on and off track". Orange County Register. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  8. Johnston, Malcolm (1 August 2018). "The supersonic Andre De Grasse". Toronto Life. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  9. "Andre De Grasse's Road to Rio". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  10. Levine, Daniel S. (18 August 2016). "Andre De Grasse's Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". heavy.com.
  11. "andre-de-grasse-canadian-athlete-of-the-year".
  12. Campbell, Morganne (29 December 2019). "Andre De Grasse hosts holiday classic in Markham ahead of 2020 Olympics". Global News. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  13. Gordon, Daphne (27 September 2017). "Kindness is integral to Jacob Tremblay's personal and professional lives". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  14. "Andre De Grasse hosts holiday classic in Markham ahead of 2020 Olympics". Global News. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  15. "Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse excited about being a new dad after birth of baby girl". Globe & Mail. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  16. Harrison, Doug (12 June 2015). "Andre De Grasse runs 9.75 in 100m at NCAA track and field championships". CBC Sports. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  17. "Andre De Grasse completes sprint double at NCAA Championships". Athletics Canada. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  18. De Grasse, Andre. "Andre De Grasse: What did I just do?". CBC Sports. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  19. Frisk, Adam (22 July 2015). "Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse wins 100m final at Pan Am Games". Global News. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  20. Ewing, Lori (22 July 2015). "Andre De Grasse wins gold in men's 100m". CBC Sports. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
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  27. Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse signs record deal with Puma. Torontosun.com. Retrieved on August 15, 2016.
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  32. Callum Ng (19 August 2016). "Jamaica wins relay gold; Canada captures bronze". CBC Sports. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  33. "Usain Bolt regrets he won't get showdown with Andre De Grasse". CBC Sports. 4 August 2017.
  34. "Andre De Grasse lost more than a final showdown with Usain Bolt". CBC Sports. 3 August 2017.
  35. "Andre De Grasse's hamstring strain explained". CBC Sports. 3 August 2017.
  36. Huebsch, Tim (10 January 2018). "Athletics Canada names 2018 Commonwealth Games team". www.runningmagazine.ca/. Gripped Publishing Inc. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
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  39. http://www.cbc.ca/m/sports/olympics/summer/topstories/commonwealth-games-canadian-sprinter-andre-de-grasse-1.4581277
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  42. Harrison, Doug (28 September 2019). "De Grasse sprints to bronze as Coleman blazes to 100m world title". CBC Sports. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
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