De Grasse thrills rising track stars with visit
Canada’s sprint sensation drops in to Toronto’s elementary track and field championships
At 10:30 a.m., Toronto’s elementary school track and field championships was a sunny scene of organized chaos full of excited winners, nervous kids waiting to race and harried officials trying to keep it all on schedule.
Then, sprint sensation Andre De Grasse arrived and a good chunk of those 1,700 kids were suddenly screaming and manoeuvring for autographs, high-fives and selfies with Canada’s fastest man.
He handled the young athletes with the same ease as he did Toronto Mayor John Tory, who was on hand and vividly recalls De Grasse’s 100- and 200-metre sweep at the Pan Am Games last summer.
“I want to congratulate you guys for making it this far, you are very talented and hard workers,” De Grasse told the crowd Tuesday. “Good luck to you guys and I’ll be watching.”
Given that it’s De Grasse’s upcoming races — including, he hopes, the 100-metre final at the Rio Olympics — that will be televised, the reverse is far more likely.
And his trip to Scarborough’s Birchmount Stadium on Tuesday gave him a taste of what his success has already meant to young Canadians and just how many eyes will be on him in Rio.
“This is exciting. I never thought I was such an inspiration like this, that kids looked up to me — it’s pretty cool,” De Grasse said, after his handlers finally managed to drag him away from the fences lined with kids to talk to the gathered media.
“They inspire me right now to keep it going. They’re just telling me ‘Go Andre, go Andre.’ ”
This already has been a season of enormous change for the 21-year-old from Markham.
He made the leap from being a talented college athlete to a professional one with a multimillion contract, switched coaches, moved his training base and picked up a multitude of sponsor obligations and expectations.
But his biggest leap is still to come if De Grasse has a hope of achieving his ultimate goal to “bring back gold” from the Rio Olympics.
In 2015, De Grasse became the first Canadian to run a sub-10-second 100 since Donovan Bailey in 2000 and his raw talent went a long way to reviving some national interest in track.
His early results this season, though, have been mixed and he’s yet to produce the kind of times that signal he’s ready to deliver Olympic medals. But after back-to-back Diamond League wins this month — he won the 200-metre in Birmingham and the 100-metre in Oslo — he feels he’s on track again.
“It was tough in the beginning of the season, I lost a couple of races but now I’m starting to find my form,” he said. “I just had a couple hiccups, it’s part of the game.”
One of those hiccups was last month at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., where he came last in the 100-metre final against Justin Gatlin and other runners he’ll likely face in Rio.
De Grasse put that down to a lingering toe injury, now cleared up, and the need to keep working on his starts, which have never been the strongest part of his race.
“It’s a good feeling that I’m starting to come back and win races just in time for my trials,” he said.
Athletics Canada’s Olympic trials — which determine which athletes will go to Rio — are in Edmonton from July 7-10.
“I haven’t run sub-10 for the year yet so that’s my goal,” De Grasse said. “That will give me a lot of confidence.”
That he may actually need to deliver a decent sub-10 time just to win at the Canadian trials says a lot about how much track has changed since De Grasse burst on the scene and raised the bar for everyone else.
Last Saturday, Aaron Brown, a 24year-old from Toronto, ran 9.96 in the heats of the Star Athletics Meet in Montverde, Fla.
Ayear ago, Brown spoke about how De Grasse’s fast times were forcing him and other Canadian sprinters to step up their training and expectations. Now, it goes both ways.
“It makes it more competitive for me,” De Grasse said, about Brown joining him in the sub-10 club.
De Grasse’s wind legal personalbest is 9.92.
The Canadian record of 9.84 is still co-held by Bailey and Bruny Surin.
De Grasse admits he doesn’t quite know what to expect in Rio, but he’s excited about it.
“I’m going to try to do my best for the country,” he said.
Just how good that might be against the likes of Usain Bolt was a hot debate among a couple of Grade 7 and 8 triple jumpers who had gathered to get selfies with De Grasse.
“I’m hoping for De Grasse but it’s going to be tough,” Omar Tutunji said. But Ramanan Balendran has more faith.
“Andre De Grasse — he can take on Bolt.”