The native of Ontario will return to Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway for the Oslo Bislett Games (15 June). It will be De Grasse’s second visit to Oslo after winning the 100m at last year’s IAAF Diamond League event. The triple Olympic medallist will then make his Swedish debut at BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium on 18 June. Both meetings are part of the IAAF Diamond League.
De Grasse first came to notice on the US Collegiate circuit where he dominated the prestigious NCAA Championships representing the University of Southern California Trojans. Some of his winning times, albeit windy, were amongst the quickest times ever recorded (9.75 at 100m and 19.58 at 200m) and gave a hint of his awesome potential.
At the 2015 Beijing World Championships, Andre De Grasse further demonstrated his precocious talent when he finished with a bronze medal in the 100m behind Usain Bolt. A year later at the Rio Olympic Games, he was a very busy athlete, winning two individual medals – bronze in the 100m and silver in the 200m – and also helping Canada to a further bronze medal in the 4x100m relay.
Over recent years the top sprinters have been powerful physical specimens like Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin, however Andre De Grasse is a completely different physique. Almost slight in stature, but there can be no denying his acceleration nor his foot speed as displayed in the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas last weekend (22–23 April). His raw swiftness on the 3rd leg of the 4x200m relay virtually guaranteed Canada the Gold medal.
28 April, 2017
