The men’s 4 x 100m relay team has been named the 2024 Team of the Year.
Comprised of Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, and Brendon Rodney, this quartet captured gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics last summer.
After clocking the slowest qualifying time among the eight teams in the final (38.39 seconds), the Canadian sprinters, starting from the outermost lane 9, delivered their best time of the season (37.50 seconds) to win the race.
“I’ve never seen these three guys run like that,” said De Grasse at the time, after he and his teammates failed to reach their individual finals in Paris. “They ran the race of their lives.”
READ: Canada wins gold for third straight Olympic medal in men’s 4x100m relay
This Olympic title marked the third consecutive podium finish for the Canadian men’s relay team following bronze medals in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
The gold also earned De Grasse his seventh Olympic medal, tying swimmer Penny Oleksiak as Canada’s most decorated Olympian.
Looking ahead, the Canadian relay team is gearing up for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, where they aim to replicate their Paris performance.
“We’ll definitely have a target on our backs,” said Rodney. “We just need to make sure we’re at our best. It’s always hard to stay motivated after the Olympics, but the motivation lies in the fact that you’re now the team everyone’s chasing.”
