More:AAU Junior Olympics on Space Coast crowns its first champions. Knighton added that compared with the Junior Olympics, he's finally getting some competition: "Well, the huge difference is you've got to run. At the end of the day, they really just help me. 19.84 is one He thinks it would be much harder for him to keep working if he didnt. Obviously, Gods blessed him with some great talent and coaches who believe in him and help him. In 2018, he was inducted into theMissouri Sports Hall of Fame. Knighton hadnt really trained in a weight room, so while he could squat 300 and bench 185 when COVID started, he was able to improve that to squatting 500 and benching 245, adding strength to his 170-pound frame. I was running what pros were running, Knighton said. At school, hes decked in everything Adidas. "That's a really good question," he said. The conversation meandered from track and field to fast cars to the challenges of catching catfish. Erriyon has not mentioned his parents name to us, but his father is a former basketball US sprinter Erriyon Knighton ( Getty Images) World U20 records* were broken in mens sprint events in two different continents just five hours apart on Saturday (30) as Botswanas Letsile Tebogo ran 9.96 for 100m in Gaborone and Erriyon Knighton clocked 19.49 for 200m in Baton Rouge. He watches a lot of film, studies his competitors. I wanted to do track all year long, he said. He ultimately placed fourth in the blazing fast final on Wednesday, making a major statement at his first Olympics. @usatf | #TrackFieldTrials21 x #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/2vNi9EknYB, #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) June 28, 2021. "In Tokyo, I was kinda upset that I had lost, but I just had to think about the big picture and the long run," added Knighton, who turned 18 in January. Usain Bolts longstanding junior 200m record was shattered by Florida teenager Erriyon Knighton at an American Track League meet in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 31. And while that contract has made his life more comfortable, his high school newspaper reported that his life is still pretty normal: "Switching back and forth from his parent's houses, visiting grandparents and cousins on the weekends, going bowling with his mom, and dreaming, not too unrealistically, of buying a Dodge Charger as his first car.". I really try not to get caught up in the pressure. But when he took off from the line, he was in first, and he was surprised. The 17-year-old from Tampa, Fla., has made a dramatic rise in track, including knocking down an under-18 world record set by Jamaican track legend Usain Bolt in 2003. The Jamaican won in 13.47 (-2.5m/s) to finish We bring the power and the strength, and hes got the speed, Sipp said. I was running what pros were running, Knighton said of his thinking before turning pro in January 2021. To watch Knighton run the Olympic 200 final from Tokyo in August, an estimated 500 people gathered at a viewing party at Hillsborough High, cheering, waving flags. As a teenager representing his country on the largest platform in sports, Knighton has a chance to be a national star, one of the biggest stories of the Olympics. Ryun would run in three Olympics for the United States, winning a silver medal in the 1,500 meters in 1968. Similarly, Erriyon Knighton is of American origin. I wouldnt let him play football now, but if he wasnt an Olympian, he could make a lot of money in football.. WebTwo-sport athlete in football and track. He was just a fraction of a second off Usain Bolts world record in the 200. I take it they are not saying that now? He thought he could win. He just didnt want it to become serious. Some goes to his phone bill and some to his mom. "Both got me the same results so far, so I don't know. But international expectation is a heavy weight to put on the narrow shoulders of a teenage sprinter, no matter how precocious. Ran a wind-legal 20.33 200 at the AAU Junior Olympics in Aug. 2020 for a national record in his age group. "Well for some, maybe. During the opening day of the discus competition, Jackson was on target to set a national record in that event as well. Erriyon Knighton is a male sprinter born to Mrs. Knighton ( Mother ) and Mr. Mrs. "Not an option of mine to go play football.". https://www.hhstoday.com/life/2021/02/25/erriyon-knighton-the-sprinter/#comment-89567. Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the teenager entered his junior year at Tampa's Hillsborough High School in 2021, according to the high He not only won the 200 meters, but did so in 20.33 seconds, breaking the national under-18 record that had been in place since 2001, nearly three years before he was born. While at Hillsborough, Sipp has watched and coached several athletes who eventually became professional, or who were given full track scholarships. 2023 www.floridatoday.com. It was how fast Knighton crossed the finish line at such a young age that was startling. More than 50 years later, he still holds the American under-20 record in the mile (3:51.3) and had kept the 800-meter record until this May. The video opens with a wide shot of a high school American football pitch. When the track team started working out, he didnt participate and tried to avoid Sipp, saying football was his first love. Holloway, the head Olympic track coach, spoke to Knighton after the race. It all started from there. Erriyon Knighton Family, Parents, Net Worth, Wife, Biography, Ethnicity. Jackson, no doubt, has gotten muscular. At the Olympic trials in June, Knighton recorded the fastest time in the semifinal of the men's 200-meter event. I think its remarkable, Ryun said. Knighton, who turned 17 in January, ran down Olympic 100m favorite Trayvon Bromell to win the 200m in 20.11, shaving 0.02 seconds off Bolts 2003 time. Its the biggest track meet on the planet, but his coaches will try to remind him the race is the same as any other hes run, focusing on the distance and himself and not the world watching him. "I've got to qualify for the heat so don't exert too much energy, really," he said, appearing relaxed and confident. His career path, though, veered from football fields to the tracks built around them. When asked by Florida Today which athlete he considers himself most similar to, he responded, Probably Usain Bolt, just because hes tall like me.. The first person to see his potential was Coach Joseph Sipp, the head track coach and a football coach. Then, he breezed through the semifinal, winning yet again. This summer, another stage beckons, a home World Championships in Oregon. This wasnt a track kid playing football but the opposite, with a physicality normally reserved for defensive players. The teenager was deflated. "Hopefully, by next year, our country will all be better off (ifthe COVID-19 pandemic ends) when they come up with a vaccine. You may have more than one ad-blocker installed. Erriyon hasnt disclosed his parents names to us, but his father was a She was a two-time NCAA shot put champion at SMU but could not make this trip,staying hometo provide medicine for their 17-year-old dachshund, Ali, who has Alzheimer's. Congrats, to Joe Sipp for seeing the potential in Erriyon as a track & field athlete. His training involves a lot of leg workouts, like cleans and squats. Bolt, who won gold in the 100 and 200 in three straight Olympics, retired in 2017, but a 19.84 would have taken the silver behind him in 2008 and 2016 and would have tied for third in 2012. He finished fourth in 19.93 seconds behind the Olympic champion Canadian Andre De Grasse, silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, and bronze Running in 200m against other 16-year-olds, he stormed home in 20.33 seconds. Read about our approach to external linking. At last weekends U.S. Olympic Trials, Knighton crossed the finish line third behind Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek, good enough to earn a spot in Tokyo with a new under-20 world record of 19.84 seconds. Sipp said the sport is still so new to him that he cant appreciate just how big an opportunity he has. In June, the then 17-year-old became the youngest American man to make a United States Olympic athletics team in 57 years. Its almost like hes a pogo stick, said Holloway, who is the head coach at the University of Florida and was also head coach of the United States track team at the Tokyo Olympics. U.S. sprinter Erriyon Knighton wins his qualifying heat of the men's 200-meter earlier this week. A little more money, a few free tracksuits, but still the same teenager. I think the betting would be that he could probably do it, he said. The triple jumper from Burkina Faso bounded out to a They have talked him out of the Hellcat, with its exorbitant insurance premiums. The basic measure of speed is stride length times stride frequency. In the end, he had help from former Hillsborough football and track star Jeremiah Green in making the decision to go ahead and sign. He considers himself a good student; he gets all his work done. From then on, Knighton was destined to be wearing spikes, rather than shoulder pads. Perhaps, Knighton matches Bolt using the same criteria that made the Jamaican great. As a professional athlete, signed by Adidas, Knighton gets paid six-figures to wear Adidas merchandise and sprint. He finished just off the podium in Wednesday's final. World indoor records from Hugues Fabrice Zango and Ryan Crouser, plus a handful of world U20 records set by teenage talents Sasha Zhoya and Erriyon Knighton in 2021, are among the latest marks to have been ratified. There were strength workouts in the weight room and conditioning on the track. At just 18 years old, the under 20 world record holder is hungry for more, starting with the Lausanne Diamond League But two years ago, he was afraid of the Armwood and Tech guys.. He wants to be the best version of himself. 100 days to the Tokyo Olympics: Twenty-five US athletes to watch, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. In an interview with Track and Field News, given back in February, Knighton remarked, I believe if I work hard, I will eventually develop to be a world-class athlete. The next Olympics are only three years off, so Knighton can build on whatever hes able to do in Tokyo when hes 20 and competing for a spot in Paris in 2024, or even at age 24 when the Olympics are in Los Angeles in 2028. Jackson was born just a few months before his dad claimed the silver medal in Beijing. I didnt grow up with his name; I grew up with my name, Knighton said recently over a leisurely lunch with his other coach, Jonathan Terry, who operates a Tampa track club called My Brothers Keeper. There were murmurs that it was too much, too soon. Erriyon hasnt disclosed his parents names to us, but his father was a basketball player in the past. I think about that all the time. If you want to get better, you haveto enjoy the training part too, as much as you like running, he said. But there is a link below. But he slept on his mom's lap the whole night.". When he joined track as a freshman following his coach's request, he saw it as a training ground that would allow him to be a better football receiver and be able to run quicker on the football field. According to NBC, he became the youngest male track athlete to reach the final of an individual Olympic race in 125 years. Erriyon Knighton on the track at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla. Knighton finished third during the final in the mens 200-meter run at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in June 2021 to qualify for the Olympic team. But if Knighton runs like he is in a hurry, he knows he has time on his side. I thought if I got a little more training, I could be one of them.. Alabama still calls me: Coach, he can still play football and run pro track. Before he went to Eugene, he told the boys hed be back for practice Aug. 2. He tore away from the rest immediately, a blue sweat band around his head, long blue spandex shorts and tank top to match. All rights reserved. "Right now, I guess you'd call it asemi-normal diet," Christian said. Support us by whitelisting our site. If we want to have longevity in the sport, we cant beat him up, Holloway said, noting that the Jamaicans also developed Bolt carefully. If she asked him to put his toys away, he would do it running. You will be there,' Sipp said. In addition to Terry, Knighton has had a few training sessions with University of Florida track coach Mike Mouse Holloway, who has worked directly with Team USA and has coached nine medal-winning athletes and at least one competitor in every Olympics since 1992. Hes a fun-loving kid to be around. Athletics offers a huge range sport, in jumps, throws and running. That includes sponsorship from adidas, who added the athlete to their roster in January for an undisclosed amount. He goes about his business the right way and takes this very seriously. We charge advertisers instead of our readers. He was also born in the United States on January 29, 2004. A slender, rangy figure in home-team red gathers a kick return on his 10-yard line. They won't be the only ones getting familiar with Knighton's fame over the next few years. All Rights Reserved. Asked whether he could compare his running style to that of another, the teenager said: "Probably Usain Bolt," Florida Today reported in 2020, "just because he's tall like me. "Before then you could have asked me what 100m was and I wouldn't have known. He looks up, spots a hole in the onrushing defence and darts through, evading With the Tokyo Olympics getting underway later this month and a 200m personal best of 19.84 seconds, 2021 could be the year of Erriyon Knightons making. But his decision to turn professional in January 2021, still aged just 16, was a big one. Not Bolt, not anyone. He followed the decision made by Tamari Davis, a then-16-year-old who also turned pro in January of 2020. "It has calmed down now. "I get called young every day, I am going be 24 in 2028, that is in two more Olympics and still kind of young. "It's the first night, and you know how electrifying the first night of the Olympics is with everything going on," Christian said. He could no longer take up university scholarship offers. He also broke the Jamaican sprinting legend's under-20 200-meter world record set in 2004 less than a month later at the U.S. Olympic trials, USA Today Sports reported in late June. As Knighton unfolded his 6-foot-3 frame from the starting blocks, he sometimes dragged his left, or trailing, foot on the track. He has run only four races this season. Bromell, the years fastest at 9.88 in the 100m, finished second in 20.20, his best since 2015. With latest scores and headlines sent straight to your device, personalisation and much more, ensure you have a great sporting life with BBC Sport. Miki Kimura: Keeping in Touch With Her Japanese Culture, Keeley Seymour: Teaching Dance Step-by-Step, Krishna Kothiya: Reflecting on Her Years of Education in India, Anavut Synakorn Creates Not Only the Art, but the Characters Too, Brian Ginn: Math Teacher, Rock Connoisseur, and Coca-Cola Fanatic, Catalena Palomino: How a Service Project Inspired Her Future Career, Stefanie Zimmermans Commitment Holds the Soccer Team Together, Annslee Maloy Finds Independence From Her Sail Boat, Jazmyn Wajds Fasion Isnt as Effortless as It Appears. Its almost like hes a pogo stick, Knightons coach said. As of today, Erriyon Kinghtons parents identities remain unknown to the general public. Its crazy. I could make sure he was getting the right amount of sleep and eating right, so it was better that he stayed with us.. Adding that he and his family would like to be a little more included with these things. The seven-time NCAA All-American, who first went toMissouri on basically a $400 scholarship, has a personal-best mark of 22.54 meters, or 73-11, in the shot put. He has loftier thoughts. John Regis, agent of Knighton and the 200m record-holder in the UK, has some insights. It still hasnt hit me yet, the reality of it, Knighton said by phone Tuesday, awaiting a cross-country flight home from Seattle, with a dizzying few weeks ahead before hes off to compete in Japan. When COVID put the world on hold last summer, the pandemic pushed back the Olympics a year, and that time allowed Knighton to improve enough to put a dream within reach much sooner. Commemorating Chinese New Year to take place on January 22. "You're running against grown men, so you've got to do everything you can to beat them," he said. The 12-year-old soon-to-be seventh-grader won his firstAAU discus national title on Wednesday by nearly 32 feet, throwing a personal-best 40.01 meters (131-03 feet). Click on the large blue power icon at the top. "Perfectly safe. A final defender comes haring across, all pumping thighs and straining arms. Erriyon Knighton Parents, Age Height Instagram And Partner. Knighton has to look no further than an Olympic peer, Trayvon Bromell, another former Florida high school sprinting star, to realize the possibility and fragility of world-class speed. The biggest thing is dont let the experience overwhelm you, and at the same time, enjoy it.. View this post on Instagram As you watch the footage,external-link you can hear one voice from the stands swear in disbelief as the stagger unfurls and the extent of Knighton's yawning advantage is revealed. As a television camera reached him, he crouched on the track and smiled, but it was a smile of contemplating what might have been. He was recruited to multiple colleges for football but decided to go pro in track before his 17th birthday and signed with Adidas. "There were a lot of people wanting to take pictures with me at the start of the school year," he remembers. Knighton is marked, too, by an impressive self-belief for such a young athlete. A two-minute highlight reel shows not only his quickness but a shiftiness and ability to weave through defenders, scoring 15 touchdowns in his two seasons of varsity ball. Knighton started playing football when he was seven. But, as the pandemic bit, the points switched. Knighton had turned professional in January 2021, days before his 17th birthday. Way to represent Tampa! pic.twitter.com/9hvgiiSOHO. The teenager did not break Bolt's world record (19.19 seconds set in 2009) and Olympic record (19.30 seconds set in 2008). Knighton took up sprinting in his freshman year of high school after his football coach asked him to join the track team, according to his high schools newspaper. At the time when the Jamaican sprinter set the record, he was 16-years-old. In his junior year now, Knighton practices with a personal coach four days a week. Cheerleaders on the sidelines. Im soaking it all up, all the knowledge., He has also previously acknowledged comparisons to Bolt, even ahead of beating his record. Now hes running for the Olympics. 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