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Three names sit on prime of the listing of fastest-ever 200m runners, and all of them are legends.
Jamaica’s eight-time Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt is primary, having set a blistering time of 19.19 seconds on the Berlin World Championships in August 2009.
Bolt’s compatriot Yohan Blake – a two-time Olympic relay gold medallist who was so typically the person to push Bolt to his limits – is second, hitting 19.26 in a Brussels Diamond League meet in September 2011.
The third man on the listing is the USA’s Michael Johnson – winner of 4 Olympic titles together with a world record-breaking gold medal within the Atlanta 1996 200m when he shaved three-tenths off of the earlier world greatest to complete in a time of 19.32.
Quantity 4 has no Olympic titles to his identify. He has been to 1 version of the Video games – final 12 months in Tokyo – the place he completed fourth within the 200m aged solely 17.
But lower than a 12 months later, he surprised the world by setting a time of 19.49 seconds, immediately catapulting himself into the corporate of the aforementioned legends.
Keep in mind the identify: Erriyon Knighton.
Need know extra about rising star Erriyon Knighton? We’ve got you covered
Who’s Erriyon Knighton?
At age 14, Knighton wasn’t even excited about athletics.
“You would have requested me what 100m was and I would not have recognized. I knew nothing about observe,” the younger dash sensation informed the BBC in early 2022.
Again then, {the teenager} was totally centered on American soccer, enjoying broad receiver for his highschool staff.
At 1.9m and over 70 kilos, he had the peak and construct to thrive in that sport. However all his aspirations have been quickly to vary when at age 15, his coach timed him operating over 200m.
That one run induced his coach to advise him to pay attention totally on observe and discipline.
What adopted was a meteoric rise in his newly-adopted sport. At age 16, Knighton clocked 20.33 within the Junior Olympics – setting the second-fastest time by an underneath 18-year-old, behind Usain Bolt.
In June 2021, aged 17, he made the USA Olympic staff, changing into the youngest male American to attain the feat in 57 years. And by the top of the Olympics, he had not solely managed to say fourth within the 200m but in addition overwhelmed Bolt’s under-18 world document on a number of events.
Quick-forward lower than one other 12 months to April 2022 and Knighton was at it once more. His time of 19.49 set on the LSU Invitational is the present under-20 world document, breaking the earlier greatest set by – you guessed it – Bolt a full 18 years beforehand.
It was additionally a time that might have handily gained the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo.
Can Knighton beat Usain Bolt’s world document?
Whereas Knighton’s time of 19.49 makes him the fourth-fastest man in historical past, it’s truly the eighth-fastest time ever resulting from the truth that Bolt holds 4 of these eight occasions and Blake two.
Nevertheless, at age 18, Knighton has posted his occasions at a far youthful age than any of his rivals.
Bolt’s present world document time of 19.19 was set in 2009 when he was 22 years previous. The one different time he set earlier to the document that’s sooner than Knighton’s was the 19.30 he achieved at Beijing 2008 aged 21.
At age 17, Bolt’s greatest time was 19.93, 0.09 seconds slower than Knighton’s greatest on the age. It took Bolt till age 20 to attain a decrease mark – this time of 19.75.
Nevertheless, it’s the speedy development of Knighton that has actually set tongues wagging in terms of the opportunity of him breaking a world document as soon as deemed “unimaginable” to beat.
Between age 17 and 18, Knighton has lowered his personal 200m time by a full 0.35 seconds. Bolt, by comparability, was 21 by the point he set a time decrease than the 19.49 of Knighton – and that was the then world document set within the Olympic closing in Beijing.
Ominously for the present world document of Bolt, Knighton has time on his palms. And loads of it.
When the Paris Video games come round, the younger American speedster will nonetheless solely be 20, and can be getting into his peak years as a sprinter when the Video games transfer to LA 4 years later.
“I get referred to as younger day-after-day,” {the teenager} defined. “I’m going be 24 in 2028, that’s in two extra Olympics and nonetheless sort of younger. I take into consideration that on a regular basis.”
However on the fee he’s bettering, the world could even see Knighton do the unimaginable before anybody may have imagined.
How does he evaluate to the present era of sprinters?
Whereas it might appear Knighton is a shoo-in for the world title subsequent month in Oregon, there are a variety of present-day sprinters who can be greater than keen to present him a run for his cash.
The one who’s closest to him by way of uncooked pace is compatriot and teammate Noah Lyles.
Lyles got here residence from Tokyo 2020 with an Olympic bronze medal, following on from the gold he gained on the final World Championships in 2019.
At 24 years previous, the Florida native could also be six years Knighton’s senior, however there is no doubt about his tempo or potential.
On 5 July 2019, Lyles set his private greatest time in Lausanne – one which made him on the time the fourth-fastest 200m runner in historical past. His mark? 19.50 – a mere 0.01 seconds slower than Knighton’s greatest.
And whereas it is one factor to supply blistering occasions when the strain is off, it is fairly one other to supply them within the effervescent strain pot of championship competitors.
One man who has confirmed he can flip up when the warmth is on is Canada’s Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse. Whereas De Grasse’s best-ever time of 19.62 ranks him ninth on the all-time listing of 200m runners, the six-time Olympic medallist has confirmed again and again he can rise to the event – one thing Knighton has not but had a lot expertise with.
Additionally do not depend out different members of Group USA who’re all throughout the prime 25 of all time, together with Kenny Bednarek, the twelfth quickest with 19.68, Michael Norman, fifteenth quickest with 19.70 and Fred Kerley, twenty third quickest with 19.76.
In the long run, all of it boils down to 1 factor. You will not wish to miss one second of Knighton’s 200m marketing campaign at subsequent month’s World Athletics Championships, which happen from 15 to 24 July in Oregon.
Here is everything you need to know about the U.S. track and field trials.
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