Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse: My new beginning after major life changes
The six-time Olympic medallist is now settled in Orlando working with his new coach, Irishman John Coghlan, as De Grasse looks to “get back on the podium” at the World Championships in Budapest and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Andre De Grasse likes fresh starts to keep motivated.
In 2018, plagued by hamstring injuries over two seasons, the Canadian track athletics star switched coaches, a change that brought new success.
A year later he clinched his first silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in the men's 200m, also picking up the 100m bronze.
At his second Olympics in Tokyo, held in 2021, he achieved his dream of becoming an Olympic champion with the 200m gold medal, adding the 100m bronze and relay silver to take his Games tally to six medals.
Now, fully recovered from a foot injury and a laboured season battling Covid, Canada’s most decorated Olympian has settled in his new base in Orlando, Florida, where he’s working with his new coach John Coghlan.
"I'll pick this up quickly and get back to running fast and get back on the podium," De Grasse told CBS Sports. "As the season approaches, I'll start mapping out more of my goals. Right now, it's trying to get some familiarity with my coach and be on the same page with things. We're trying to get to know each other — what worked in the past and what didn't."
Andre De Grasse on a golden journey
In 2017, De Grasse was in one of the best shapes of his career. After sprinting to three Olympic medals at Rio 2016, he went to the 2017 World Championships unbeaten in four major races.
He was one of the few men tipped to beat track legend Usain Bolt in the Jamaican's last year of competition.
But double Pan American gold medallist De Grasse was forced to withdraw from the championships after a hamstring injury in training. It also ended his season.
His 2018 spell ended prematurely at the Canadian Championships, when he pulled out injured again. At the end of that season, he left his former coach, Canadian Stuart McMillan, whom he had worked with since turning pro in 2015, and settled on American Rana Reider.
That switch paid off with the gold medal at Tokyo 2020.
From Jacksonville to Orlando
After three years in Jacksonville, the 28-year-old again “wanted to try something different” and decided on Coghlan, who also handles Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the Puerto Rican 100m hurdles Olympic champion. De Grasse’s move came amidst controversy around his former coach Reider being investigated by the U.S. Centre for Safesport for sexual misconduct.
The sprinter, who has been a constant podium finisher, medalling in every Olympic and World Championships in the finals he has competed in, maintains that he just needed a change mentally.
"It had nothing to do really with what was happening… I just wanted to try to get a fresh start, and I like Orlando,” the Ontario native told Canadian Press.
It marked another new beginning for De Grasse, whose childhood dream was to play professional basketball, before changing course when the program was cancelled at his high school. Donning basketball shorts and borrowed spikes, he had signed up for a track meet and finished second in his first ever dash – performances that opened doors for him as a sprinter.
De Grasse is hopeful of being back to top form for Budapest and Paris after a laboured 2022 season, recovering from a second bout of covid and missing the 100m final at the Eugene World Championships in Oregon and pulling out of the 200m.
"The good thing this year at least is that worlds are later than usual so I'll have more time to figure things out," said De Grasse who, despite his fitness struggles in Eugene, ran the anchor leg as Canada won it’s first-ever relay championship gold.
His partner Nia Ali, an Olympic silver medallist in the 100m hurdles and the mother of their three children, has also joined him at Coghlan’s training camp. They are both eyeing qualifications for the Paris 2024 Games.
“I wanted a little bit more attention to detail and stuff like that going into my next Olympics,” De Grasse said in an interview with Canadian Press.
"I'm getting older, so I was just trying to do something different this time around. So, hopefully having a smaller crew will help me with my performances."