De Grasse gets back up to speed
Canada’s fastest man launches foundation after slow start to season
While his rivals ran at a Diamond League track meet in Rome, Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse dropped in on a high school track meet at York University to sign autographs, do interviews and unveil his new charitable foundation.
De Grasse’s advisers chose the perfect place to publicize his latest off-track initiative. Six years ago he arrived at that very track after joining his school’s team on a whim, then laid down a 10.9-second 100 metres in his first ever race. His foundation aims to help promising teenage runners defray the cost of highlevel track and field.
But his presence in Toronto, greeting fans and media while American Ronnie Baker ran 9.93 to win in Rome, reflects a season still under construction for the fastest Canadian sprinter of his generation. The hamstring injury that forced him out of the 2017 world championships didn’t just deprive him of a final showdown with retiring sprint king Usain Bolt. It dominated his off-season, delayed pre-season training and sent him into competition this spring chasing fitness instead of more Canadian records.
Above all, the setback has forced the 23-year-old Markham native to practise patience.
“It kind of showed in my last couple of races that it’s still going to take some time,” said De Grasse, who won three medals at the 2016 Olympics. “It’s still going to take some time, but I know I’m not that far off … Mentally, I know I’m there. Physically I’ve just got to get my body to get to that point.”
Six weeks ahead of national championships, De Grasse, Canada’s top-ranked sprinter for three straight seasons, isn’t ranked among the top three Canadians in either of his events.
He ran 20.46 seconds in his 200-metre season opener, which puts him fourth in Canada and 0.39 behind early-season leader Aaron Brown. Over 100 metres De Grasse has run 10.15, with veteran Gavin Smellie’s 10.01 leading all Canadians.
In his most recent race, De Grasse laboured to an eighthplace finish over 100 in Shanghai, his familiar mid-race surge absent as he crossed the line in 10.25 seconds.
His 9.91-second personal best over 100 makes him the thirdfastest Canadian in history, while he holds the national record of 19.80 seconds over 200.
His coaches say the missing top-end speed isn’t a mystery, but a matter of fitness and finetuning. Long-time coach Tony Sharpe, who oversees De Grasse’s training while in Toronto, says the late start to pre-season base training has left the sprinter a few weeks behind. For now.
“Hopefully now his mindset is that: ‘My body is good (and) I’m going to go out and perform,’ ” Sharpe said. “I think he’s there mentally.”
His late start means he’s regaining fitness instead of building on it, and a busy domestic competition schedule will keep him visible to a Canadian sports public used to seeing De Grasse at his best. Beyond the nationals in Ottawa, De Grasse is scheduled to headline the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships (NACAC) in Toronto in August. Posters for the event feature the silhouette of a sprinter whose resemblance to De Grasse isn’t coincidental. Meanwhile, a Gatorade ad starring De Grasse remains in heavy rotation during sports shows, a reminder that he’s still building his off-track brand.
“It’s communicating who he is as a person, and making sure that his brand isn’t tied up in how fast he ran yesterday,” said Brian Levine, De Grasse’s marketing agent. “He’s more than just 9.91 or 19.80. Whatever that number is, he’s a person.”
For his part, De Grasse hopes to navigate a disjointed ontrack schedule and wrest more Canadian records from this season. The timing of the nationals will keep him away from the elite Diamond League circuit until July. Late that month he’s scheduled to race in London against a field scheduled to include Baker and world indoor champ Christian Coleman, who ran 6.34 seconds to break the 60-metre world record. Beyond London looms NACAC, the biggest competition in Canada since the 2015 Pan Ams and one De Grasse will treat like a major championship.
“It’s my home base, Toronto. Obviously I want to put on a show,” he said. “It’s definitely more important than the Diamond League for me.”