(Toronto) Despite Andre De Grasse’s brilliant performance in the relay at the World Championships, where he punctuated Canada’s victory, the Ontarian does not yet feel in great shape.
Posted yesterday at 2:55 p.m.
After a few months battling a foot injury, De Grasse contracted COVID-19 a month before the world championships.
He could decide to end his season and focus on next year.
“It was difficult,” said De Grasse. I don’t feel like I’ve regained 100% of my energy. I think right now I just want to rest and recuperate, to start feeling like myself again. Then I can make a decision.
“The foot injury lasted all season, so I want to try and get my full abilities back. We’ll see what will happen. »
De Grasse, his relay teammates Aaron Brown and Jerome Blake, as well as world decathlon silver medalist Pierce LaPage, withdrew from the Commonwealth Games starting Thursday in Birmingham, England.
There are five Diamond League fixtures remaining in the next six weeks.
There are other world championships in August 2023, in Istanbul, then the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“I want to prepare for next year and be healthy for the Olympics because it could be my last. I want to be able to put on a great performance,” said De Grasse.
The Markham athlete had never missed an individual podium at the Worlds or the Olympics but in Eugene, still feeling the effects of COVID-19, he missed the 100m final and did not compete in the 200m.
He became friends with relay teammates Brown, Blake and Brandon Rodney. Among themselves, they know the parents and children of the group.
“It was really good to win gold with those guys (in Oregon), said De Grasse, 27. I know them on a personal level, we have chemistry, we’ve been together for so long. They are part of my family and we spend time together. »
The Canadians beat the United States for gold in the relay, but De Grasse said it almost felt like a home win.
He saw many Canadian flags at Hayward Field, which is about an eight-hour drive south of Vancouver.
“There were a lot (of Canadians) cheering us on. It was noisy,” he said.
De Grasse clocked a Canadian record 19.62 seconds in her Olympic victory in the 200 meters last summer in Tokyo.
American Noah Lyles, bronze medalist in Tokyo, won gold at the world championships in 1931.