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Teen trackrunner9/5/2023 "There were a lot of people wanting to take pictures with me at the start of the school year. The sprinter took a break from class when he turned pro with Adidas but is now expected to graduate later this spring. Knighton remains focused on his studies at Hillsborough High School in Tampa. “I want to be world champion, or I want to be on the podium,” he said. He was the third American in that race behind Lyles and Bednarek, which puts him in a good position to punch his ticket to a home championship in Oregon. I am not the perfect 200m runner, I am still learning as I run it." "As I grow older I am going to get stronger and faster. "I get called young every day, I am going to be 24 in 2028, that is in two more Olympics and still kind of young. "In Tokyo, I was kinda upset that I had lost, but I just had to think about the big picture and the long run," Knighton who is coached by Jonathan Terry told the BBC. He finished fourth in 19.93 seconds behind the Olympic champion Canadian Andre De Grasse, silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, and bronze winner Noah Lyles. Knighton was outstanding in his first major competition in Tokyo, where he just missed the Olympic podium and became the youngest teen since Jim Ryun in 1964 to represent the United States. Erriyon Knighton: “I want to be a world champion” I’ve still got 10 years left." - Erriyon Knighton to NBC Sports. But if it doesn’t come, I won’t be really bothered about it. I can't complain with that,“ he said after becoming the first high schooler since 1972 to represent Team USA at the Olympics. The mark surpassed Bolt's world U20 record from 2004 of 19.93 seconds and also bettered the world U18 best he had run three weeks earlier.Ī day later Knighton punched his ticket to Tokyo 2020 with a third-place finish in the 200m in 19.84 seconds behind Lyles and Kenny Bednarek, again lowering the world U20 record. He topped the 200m semi-finals with a blistering 19.91 seconds, beating world gold medallist Noah Lyles, who had trailed him in the heat again. The 17-year-old made the final of the Olympic Trials, where he achieved several historic firsts. That mark qualified him for the USATF Olympic Trials where “he put on the gas as he had a world champion chasing him down”. He dashed to 9.99 seconds but with an high tailwind (+2.7) rendering his time illegal.ĭespite that, Knighton had become the third high school sprinter to break 10 seconds, after Trayvon Bromell (9.99, +4.0) in 2013 and Matthew Boling (9.98 +4.2) in 2019.įive months after that, he blew away a field that included Bromell and Commonwealth Games champion Zharnel Hughes, bettering Bolt’s World U18 best of 20.13 seconds set in 2003. The Florida native, who opted to turn professional in January 2021, was just getting started. The previous 15-16 age group record was 20.62 set by Tyrese Cooper from 2016. and a huge improvement of his personal best of 20.89. That race from August 2020 was also the fastest in the U.S. The then 16-year-old was in a class of his own as he shattered the 15-16 age group record with a 20.33 run in the 200m at the AAU Junior Olympic Games. It turned out to be a smooth switch from football cleats to spikes. By the end of that year, I realised that I was kind of separated from the pack and faster than most people." He's a world record holder "Before then you could have asked me what 100m was and I wouldn't have known. “I only started running track in the ninth grade," Knighton said in an interview with the BBC on his start in athletics as a freshman. The wide receiver at Tampa Hillsborough High School seemed keen to pursue his sporting interests in the NFL, and several of the best American colleges with strong football programmes were keen to draft the speedy teen.īut with most team sports restricted due to the pandemic, Knighton opted to focus on his other passion - track. Just two years ago, the 1.91m (6 foot 3 inch) teenager, who takes his height from his father, a former basketball player, was focussed on outrunning the cornerbacks lined up against him on the American football pitch.
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