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Andre De Grasse News
Andre De Grasse: A Brief Biography
Andre De Grasse is a Canadian track and field athlete born on 10th November 1994. He hails from Markham city of Ontario in Canada. He specializes in sprinting and represents Canada internationally in 100m and 200m events.
Background:
Andre De Grasse was born to Alexander Waithe and Beverley De Grasse. Both of his parents are former sprinters in their youth. De Grasse has three siblings, Julian, Alexandra, and Dantee Waithe.
As a young child, Andre De Grasse dabbled well in soccer, basketball, and baseball. In 2006, he took part in his first racing competition while studying in 8th grade at Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School. After completing his school education, he moved to Milliken Mills High School, where he pursued his interest in basketball. In the final year, Milliken Mills decided to revoke his basketball programme due to poor academic performances and that’s when he switched to sprinting.
In 2012, at the age of 17, Andre De Grasse participated in a regional athletic competition, where he finished second in 100m and third in 200m. This caught the attention of Tony Sharpe, former 4x100m Olympic Bronze-medalist, and invited him to enroll at Pickering’s Speed Academy. De Grasse joined the academy and began to train under Tony Sharpe.
Rise to Glory:
Before joining Pickering’s Speed Academy, Andre De Grasse competed at the Ontario Championships, where he finished 5th in a 100m event. Under the tutelage of Tony Sharpe, he received his major career breakthrough by triumphing three Gold medals in 100m, 200m, and 4x100 relay team events at the 2013 Canada Games.
Andre De Grasse got a breakthrough in his international debut by making it to a podium finish with a Silver medal in 100m and a Bronze in 200m at the 2013 Pan-American Junior Games. In 2015, while representing the University of Southern California, he broke into the limelight by clinching two Gold medals in 100m and 200m events at the NCAA Championships. At the USC, De Grasse trained under Caryl Smith.
In 2016, Andre De Grasse made it to the Canada Olympic team after defending his 100m NCAA Championships title. The following year, he was crowned as 100m and 200m National Champion at the Canadian Track and Field Championships. In 2019, Andre De Grasse fell short of winning a 100m national title to Aaron Brown by milliseconds.
Major Achievements:
Andre De Grasse received his senior international career breakthrough in 2015 when he bagged two Gold medals in 100m and 200m events by clocking 10.05s and 19.88s, respectively at the Pan-American Games. That year, in August, he won the Bronze medal in 100m with a timing of 9.92s, followed by another Bronze medal in 4x100m Relay team event by clocking 38.13s at the World Athletics Championships.
In 2016, Andre De Grasse made his Olympics debut at the Rio Olympics in Brazil, where made it to the podium finish with two Bronze medals in 100m and 4x100m Relay events and a Silver medal in 200m. The following year, he clinched the Gold medal in 4x200m with a timing of 1:19.91s at the World Athletics Relay.
Andre De Grasse was selected to represent Canada in 100m and 200m events at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, but unfortunately, he was compelled to pull out of the event due to a hamstring injury. In 2019, at the World Athletics Championships, he made it twice to a podium finish with a Silver medal in 200m and Bronze in 100m events.
Andre De Grasse will be competing in his second Olympics at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and he’s considered as one of the top contenders to medal in 100m and 200m Sprints.
