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TAMPA, Fla. — For Erriyon Knighton, the record-breaking pace isn’t as unimaginable as his acceleration to the monitor world’s elite.
On Sunday night time in Oregon, he earned a spot in subsequent month’s Olympics in Tokyo within the 200 meters, and at 17 years outdated, the rising senior at Hillsborough Excessive Faculty in Tampa grew to become the youngest male U.S. Olympic monitor athlete in 57 years, since Jim Ryun within the 1964 video games, additionally in Tokyo.
Six instances up to now yr and thrice over the weekend, he reset the under-18 world file within the 200, together with the world under-20 file held by three-time Olympic 200-meter gold medalist Usain Bolt.
“It nonetheless hasn’t hit me but, the fact of it,” Knighton mentioned by telephone Tuesday, awaiting a cross-country flight residence from Seattle, with a dizzying few weeks forward earlier than he’s off to compete in Japan.
Two and a half years in the past, he’d by no means been in a monitor meet. Operating sprints wasn’t a path to Olympic historical past, however only a method to get quicker for soccer season.
Joe Sipp remembers first seeing Knighton the summer season earlier than his freshman yr at Hillsborough, when he attended a conditioning exercise for soccer gamers. Knighton didn’t play soccer that first fall, however Sipp, now in his fifteenth yr as the college’s offensive line coach and head monitor coach, advised him his pace was one thing that will be particular, that he would do nicely if he needed to run monitor. When the monitor workforce began understanding, he didn’t take part and tried to keep away from Sipp, saying soccer was his past love.
“I mentioned, ‘No. Monday, you’re popping out to trace apply. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. You’ll be there,’” Sipp mentioned. “It began from there. He was freaky athletic.”
He gained the 100 meters as a freshman in his first meet, and his time within the 200 meters was round 21.
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