De Grasse leads track team to Gold Coast

Sprinter Andre De Grasse will lead Canada’s track and field team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

Athletics Canada announced its roster of 46 athletes and para-athletes Wednesday. De Grasse, form Markham, Ont., has been nominated to compete in the men’s 200 metres and the men’s 4x100-metre relay.

De Grasse earned medals in both events at the 2016 Rio Olympics, claiming silver in the 200 and helping Canada’s relay team win bronze. He is one of 29 athletes on the team making their Commonwealth Games debut.

Canada did not nominate a sprinter for the men’s 100 metres, an event in which De Grasse earned bronze in Rio. But Athletics Canada said in a tweet that specific event entries for each athlete could be subject to change.

Decathlete Damian Warner of London, Ont., will look to defend the gold medal he won at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, while wheelchair racer Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., will try to top the podium after winning silver in the women’s T54 1,500 metres four years ago.

“As an athlete, there’s something different and special about the Commonwealth Games,” Roy said. “It has a very inclusive spirit as the para-athletes share training facilities, compete in the same stadium and live in the village with all of the other athletes and teams from the Commonwealth.

“Our medals are part of the overall medal count and I take a lot of pride in that.”

Glenroy Gilbert, a part of Canada’s Olympic champion 4x100 relay team in 1996, will serve as head coach.

Canada will look to rebound after being shut out of the medals at the 2017 athletics championships in London.