While the 29-year-old track and field star’s life has changed a lot since he first became a Canadian household name in 2016, his Olympic goal hasn’t
Scarborough-born sprinter Andre De Grasse is pictured at Toronto Track and Field Centre at York University on June 24, 2024. Mr. De Grasse is heading to Paris next month for his third Olympic Games.Andre De Grasse helped carry Team Canada’s flag into Paris at the Opening Ceremony last week. It’s finally time for the star sprinter to take the track.
“I want to win some more medals. It’s always been the same goal, same objective, even when I went to Rio as a young kid,” De Grasse told The Globe and Mail in June. “Normally, I know when I get there and I put on that singlet and I got Canada on my back, and my family and friends are rooting for me, that always gives me that confidence that I need to be my best.
“I’m feeling good and I’m as healthy as I’ve been the last couple of years, so that’s always a confidence-booster for me,” said De Grasse, who trains in Jacksonville, Fla. He held off the competition at trials in Montreal to win his first national title in that event since 2017, doing so in 10.20. De Grasse will have to be much faster to make the podium in the 100-metre in Paris and reach his dream of eclipsing the Canadian record of 9.84, held by Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin. The world-leading times in the 100-metre this year include 9.77 seconds by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, and 9.
“He has that hunger this year, after not having the best season last year,” retired American sprinter Justin Gatlin said on his podcast. “Andre De Grasse is a gamer … he’s been a gamer since college … he knows how to win, he knows how to make sure those moments count and he executes them.”
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