Just nine months before the Paris Olympics open, Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse is changing coaches, returning to the man who helped him collect gold in Tokyo in 2021.
The 28-year-old has parted ways with Irish coach John Coghlan to work with American Rana Reider in Jacksonville, Fla. Reider previously coached De Grasse from 2018 to 2022.
“At the end of my season, my partner Nia and I made the decision to move our family back to Jacksonville, Fla. It’s a much better set-up for our kids with schools and extracurricular activities,” De Grasse told CBC Sports.
De Grasse’s move back to Reider comes five months after a sexual misconduct investigation into the high profile track coach was completed. Reider, 53, admitted to a consensual relationship with an 18-year-old female athlete and was placed on one year probation by the U.S. SafeSport Center.
Reider’s probation lets him to coach elite sprinters, which includes Italian Marcell Jacobs, who won gold in the 100 metres at the Tokyo Olympics, and American star Trayvon Bromell. De Grasse won gold in the 200m in Tokyo as well as bronze in the 100m and silver in the 4×100 relay.
“Obviously there were some distractions in 2022 but those issues have been resolved and I enjoyed my first week of training with the group,” De Grasse said.
By many standards this past season wasn’t up to De Grasse’s potential while working with Coghlan.
Three months into their training together De Grasse told CBC Sports it would take some adjusting and that “the two were still trying to get to know each other and get on the same page.”
There were signs of improvement in the closing part of the season, culminating in De Grasse winning the 200m at the Diamond League Final in September with a season-best time of 19.76 seconds.
Coghlan says there are no hard feelings about De Grasse making a change.
“It’s not completely shocking. You see the season through and obviously have a conversation,” Coghlan told CBC Sports’ Doug Harrison. “He finished the season very well — 19.76 is his fourth fastest time. There was no falling out whatsoever. Everybody’s on good terms.
“You respect his decision. Andre’s an extremely high-level athlete and won a lot. It’s a normal reaction for an athlete to want to veer back to [someone with whom] they felt they ran their fastest. It’s part of the game. Athletes do what they feel is best.”
While the change might not come as a surprise to Coghlan, it was something the two never talked about at any point of the season.
“Maybe it was going through his mind but it was nothing that was ever discussed, not in the middle of a season,” Coghlan said.
In a statement to CBC Sports, Athletics Canada stated it is aware De Grasse is working with Reider as his personal coach.
“While athletes may have personal coaches of their choosing, all personal and national team coaches must go through a background screening process and have completed safe sport training prior to participation in any Athletics Canada official events and training camps,” the statement said.
De Grasse still has things on his list to accomplish despite racking up accolades and consistently delivering on the international stage, and he said recently he wants to break the Canadian 100m record of 9.84 that is shared by 1996 Olympic champion Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin.
“If you look at Andre’s times — 9.89 twice and 9.90 once — I think he’s got the ability to do it. I have full faith in him and wish him all the best. I hope he does it,” Coghlan said.
“He’s in a great position going into an Olympic year, to be honest. He’s way ahead and probably in a better position now going into an Olympic year than 2020.”
