Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown lead Canada to 4 x 100m world lead in Florida

The Canadian relay team of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse ran a world-leading time in the 4 x 100m at the Florida Relays on Saturday, winning in 37.80 seconds. This is the same group of men who won gold in the 4 x 100m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore., and they are now back in action. proving that they are still a top contender moving forward in 2023. 

This is how the Canadian🇨🇦 men's 4x100m team clocked a World Lead of 37.80s at the Florida Relays!

Spot that first leg by Michael Norman?👀 pic.twitter.com/xZDxnrsUUw

— oluwadare (@Track_Gazette) April 1, 2023

A fast season opener

The Canadian men won by a healthy margin in Florida, finishing well ahead of the second-place team of Americans who finished in 38.08. Third went to another American squad, which clocked a final time of 38.13 seconds. Each of these results beat the previous world-leading time 38.50, which an Australian team ran in early March. 

It’s still early spring, and the outdoor season hasn’t gotten into full swing yet, so there is a good chance that the Canadians’ world-leading time will be lowered as more teams move from indoor to outdoor racing. However, their 37.80-second result won’t be an easy one to beat, as there were only three faster times recorded in all of 2022 (including the Canadian team’s 37.48 national record, which won them world championship gold and secured them the year-end world lead). There are only four faster 4 x 100m times in Canadian track and field history.

Other results in Florida

Just a couple of hours after helping the team to their world-leading result in the relay, Brown lined up for the 400m, a distance he rarely races. He entered the race with a PB of 46.33 seconds, which he ran in 2019, the last time he recorded an official 400m result.

Despite having already raced on the day, Brown flew to a third-place finish and a new PB of 45.84 seconds. This is the 14th-fastest 400m result in national history, and while that may not be too exciting for a man who owns the fifth- and second-fastest Canadian 100m and 200m times, it’s still wildly impressive, seeing as it’s in an event that is double the length of his usual races. 

Also racing an off-distance event was Canada’s Marco Arop. An 800m specialist, Arop hopped into the 1,500m race, which he won in a PB of 3:38.36.  In non-Canadian news, American 19-year-old sprinting phenom Erriyon Knighton won the 100m in Florida in 9.98 seconds. This time beat his PB of 10.04 seconds, but it was not wind-legal. Reigning Olympic 400m champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas was also in action, winning the 200m in 20.14 seconds. 

For full results from the Florida Relays, click here.