He is said to have reluctantly run his first 100m sprint in borrowed shoes and somebody else’s shorts. Back then, the starting blocks were so foreign to him, he opted for a standing start during that first race. The year was 2012.

In July of 2015, that same young man rose to the occasion under hometown pressure and won gold in both the 100m and 200m sprints at the Pan American Games in Toronto. In August, he nabbed bronze in the 100m at the World Championships in Beijing with a time of 9.92. It was an impressive personal best, to be sure.

Saturday night, he will join us at Athletics Ontario’s annual Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame induction ceremony. We are thrilled to be able to officially let you know that Andre De Grasse is set to attend our annual celebration.

Nominated for a broad number of awards, including Senior Men Sprints/Hurdles, Overall Athlete of the Year and Fan Favourite Male Athlete of the Year, Andre has certainly chosen an appropriate night to attend our gala and Awards Banquet. We hope you will join us on Saturday night at the Don Valley Hotel and Suites, too.

Voting for Fan Favourite Male Athlete of the Year and Fan Favourite female Athlete of the Year continues until Wednesday, September 23rd at 11:59pm: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6QJKCYF

Early bird tickets to our gala have already sold out, however, a handful of tickets are still available for purchase until tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9:00am. Click here for more details and ticket purchase: https://www.trackie.com/online-registration/register.php?id=2368

We are really looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!