Andre De Grasse anchors Canada to victory over USA at Florida Relays

The Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday showcased the 2025 season debut of Canada’s Olympic gold-medal-winning quartet: Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse. Once again, the team proved they are the best in the world when it comes to the men’s 4x100m by edging out Team USA for the victory.

The American lineup—featuring Christian Coleman, Kyree King, Erriyon Knighton and Robert Gregory—led the race for most of the stretch, until De Grasse unleashed his trademark speed on the anchor leg, chasing down Gregory to take the win in 38.09 seconds. Although it’s still early in the 2025 season, this performance marks the second-fastest time in the world this year.

Team Canada 🇨🇦 wins the men’s 4x100m at the Florida Relays in 38.09s!

They ran Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney & Andre de Grasse.

USA 🇺🇸 was 2nd in 38.16s with Christian Coleman, Kyree King, Erriyon Knighton & Robert Gregory. pic.twitter.com/2OWGIkeNnX

— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) April 5, 2025

A second Canadian 4x100m team, comprised of Malachi Murray, Duan Asemota, Norris Spike and Eliezer Adjibi, also threw down a solid performance, securing third place with a time of 39.13 seconds.

The highlight of De Grasse overtaking Gregory on the anchor leg evoked vintage De Grasse, reminding track and field fans of Canada’s current supremacy in the 4x100m relay.

Running anchor for Canada wasn’t De Grasse’s only event of the weekend. On Friday, he won the men’s 200m with a time of 20.32 seconds, despite battling a (-0.8 m/s) headwind. Reflecting on his performance in a post-race interview with Fitzroy Dunkley, De Grasse shared: “It’s early, but I’m happy with where I’m at, especially with all the changes since the Olympics.”

The 30-year-old sprinter from Markham, Ont., says he’s moved from Jacksonville, Fla., to Gainesville, Fla., to train under the University of Florida’s sprints coach Mike Holloway. De Grasse was previously training under American coach Rana Reider, who was removed from the 2024 Paris Olympics after the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) became aware of three lawsuits accusing the 54-year-old of sexual and emotional abuse.

I caught up with the Olympic gold medalist after his 200m and 4x100m races in Gainesville this weekend.

We talked new Puma jersey, 4x100m anchor leg, retirement, grand slam and more 🎤👇 pic.twitter.com/2GghkcNzUR

— RoriDunk (@FitzDunk) April 6, 2025

De Grasse previously left Reider in 2022 and moved from Jacksonville to Orlando to train with Irish sprint coach John Coghlan. In 2023, De Grasse and his partner, U.S. sprint hurdler Nia Ali, decided he would return to Reider in Jacksonville to create a better environment for their children. Now with Holloway, De Grasse is training alongside U.S. sprint stars Knighton, Grant Holloway and American heptathlete Anna Hall.

Looking ahead to the 2025 season, De Grasse says his focus is to improve his times in the 100m and consistently run under 10 seconds. “He’s been doing a great job so far,” De Grasse said of his new coach. “I’m content.”

De Grasse also plans to compete (as a Challenger) in Grand Slam Track’s Miami and Philadelphia meets later this season in the Short Sprints category. For now, however, De Grasse is focused on maintaining his momentum at the Botswana Grand Prix in Gaborone, Botswana, this coming weekend. The Tokyo Olympic 200m champion will face a fierce challenge from hometown favourite and defending Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo.