Knighton has a chance to continue what has been a wildly successful run for sports in Tampa, with the NHLs Tampa Bay Lightning now three wins away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions, baseballs Tampa Bay Rays coming off a World Series appearance and the NFLs Tampa Bay Buccaneers and quarterback Tom Brady winning the Super Bowl in Tampa in February and now seeking another title. He likes the weight training, but it hurts. I think the betting would be that he could probably do it, he said. Ryun is pleased to see yet another 17-year-old able to represent his country as Knighton prepares for his own shot at Olympic glory. He trusts Coach (Terry) with his life, and thats big. Knighton finished fourth in 19.93 a stunning performance for a teenager. As a television camera reached him, he crouched on the track and smiled, but it was a smile of contemplating what might have been. Erriyon Knighton does not currently have a partner. Hes like a baby colt thats born and can barely walk, Holloway said. He could no longer compete for his school. He starts his day with like 10 eggs in the morning and likes a pound of ribeye every night. He ultimately placed fourth in the blazing fast final on Wednesday, making a major statement at his first Olympics. Click the icon of the ad-blocker extension installed on your browser. At the time when the Jamaican sprinter set the record, he was 16-years-old. Jackson said the pressure of being in an Olympic family doesn't get to him. "The shot put finals are always on that first night. Holloway, the reigning world champion in the 110m hurdles who is among the hot favorites in Tokyo, clocked 13.10 seconds ahead of Olympian Devon Allen (13.22) and fellow American Daniel Roberts (13.23) as they tuned up for next months US trials. A crowd of about 100 spectators in the bleachers. ", More:Four-star football recruit Erriyon Knighton of Tampa breaks national 200-meter mark. Now everyone just walks past me just like, 'Hey, Erriyon'. Hes learning how to run, how to use his mechanics, how to maximize every inch, Terry said. Expectations that day were as wispy as the tailwind. This Teen Has Already Broken Some of Usain Bolts Records. You couldnt get him tired, he said. Knighton didnt play football that first fall, but Sipp, now in his 15th year as the schools offensive line coach and head track coach, told him his speed was something that would be special, that he would do well if he wanted to run track. He hasnt run a meet since the Junior Olympics, but he has more coming up in April. 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. He finished just off the podium in Wednesday's final. The kid who can nearly dunk a basketball, and who likes playing football and baseball back home in Nixa, Missouri,can bench press 210 pounds. 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. A slender, rangy figure in home-team red gathers a kick return on his 10-yard line. 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. But he slept on his mom's lap the whole night.". 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. "I think he would have done it," Christian said. Hes not afraid to compete, and thats a big part of being successful in any athletic endeavor.. WebAt the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so many American athletes gave amazing performances including Paul Chelimo and Kenny Bednarek. Dad's just harder on me, I guess.". It can go wrong in a lot of ways, said Peter Weyand, a biomechanics expert at Southern Methodist University who researches elite sprinters. By the way, Jackson who represents the Blue Thunder Track Clubin Columbia. He was a really nice fellow, would talk about how he ran in the morning before he got to work, then would do his heavy work in the evenings.. Knighton, who ranks seventh among Americans in the 200m since the start of this year, will face stiff competition to crack the top three and make the US Olympic team Joe Sipp remembers first seeing Knighton the summer before his freshman year at Hillsborough, when he attended a conditioning workout for football players. Knighton was sent down a different path. All rights reserved. After that race, he gestured to "Knighton" on his bib, as if to say, "Remember this name.". I could make sure he was getting the right amount of sleep and eating right, so it was better that he stayed with us.. I think its remarkable, Ryun said. Erriyon Knighton (born January 29, 2004) is an American sprinter specializing in the 100 meters and 200 meters. Jamaicas reigning Olympic champion Omar McLeod did not start the final after winning his heat in 13.16, with Holloway a hundredth of a second faster in the second heat. Instead, as school gridiron grew cold amid an enforced shutdown, a 16-year-old Knighton focused on his side hustle: track. Erriyon Knighton can be found on Instagram under the username @erriyon.k. The current age of Erriyon Knighton is 17 years old. Go, Big Red Track & Field! The triple jumper from Burkina Faso bounded out to a He has run only four races this season. "That Tokyo experience is something no-one can ever take from you, I will always have that experience. From that day, he never looked back. This week, his son's performancessoothed his soul. Then they get stronger and become Secretariat.. Before he exited the curve, the race was effectively over. The basic measure of speed is stride length times stride frequency. As a 10th grader, he was head and shoulders above everybody. Hes got goals outside of running. 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. Already whitelisted us? He won the 100 meters as a freshman in his first meet, and his time in the 200 meters was around 21.2 seconds, not bad for a runner just starting to learn correct form and technique. Not Bolt, not anyone. He knew he had run fast, but he did not yet know that his result was surpassed only by three of the greatest sprinters of all time Bolt of Jamaica, the three-time Olympic champion at 200 meters who holds the senior world record of 19.19 seconds; Yohan Blake of Jamaica, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist with a personal best of 19.26; and Michael Johnson of the United States, who won at the 1996 Olympics in 19.32. His wife, Teri (Steer), participated in the 2000 Olympics inSydney, Australia. But his 131 is still a great throw and he's OK with it. 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). Some people dont know whats going on they think I dropped out of high school, but I be here everyday, he said. "Now,he might catch his mom, though.". It Could Help You, Too, U.S. Takes Olympic Gold And Silver In The Fastest Women's 400 Meter Hurdle Race Ever. Much the same way, Knighton was scheduled to get home late Tuesday night, but was headed to Miami later in the week and then to Budapest, Hungary, where hell compete in an event next week, then training in the United Kingdom before arriving in Tokyo, where the opening ceremonies are barely three weeks off on July 23. His career path, though, veered from football fields to the tracks built around them. As far as which parent is his best coach? 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. And, break a leg, in winning Gold in Tokyo Erriyon! Erriyon Knighton, a 17-year-old whose 19.88 in the semifinals broke Bolts under-20 record, took third with a time of 19.84. Knightons mother wasnt surprised either. I said, Excuse me. Sipp remembers how he didnt always have the confidence he now carries on the track. He is back in school, walking the corridors of Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida, brushing shoulders with current class-mates and former football team-mates. He and another football teammate and friend of Sipps son, Joe Jr., moved in with the Sipp family, staying with them for seven months. When the 2024 Paris Olympics begin, he will be all of 20 years old. Knighton added that compared with the Junior Olympics, he's finally getting some competition: "Well, the huge difference is you've got to run. The field also included a pair of Britons: Zharnel Hughes (who took gold at the 2018 European championships) and Adam Gemili (fourth at the 2016 Olympics and 2019 worlds). He did get to see the 2012 Games in London. If this weekends Olympic trials marked Knightons true arrival on the national scene, that process started last August, when he competed at the AAU Junior Olympics in Satellite Beach, Fla. I told him a long time ago: He has no idea what hes doing, he said. But his decision to turn professional in January 2021, still aged just 16, was a big one. Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the teenager entered his junior year at Tampa's Hillsborough High School in 2021, according to the high CNW Network is South Floridas number one Caribbean news network that comprises of CaribbeanNationalWeekly.com, National Weekly newspaper and CNW TV. "I get called young every day, I am going be 24 in 2028, that is in two more Olympics and still kind of young. Knighton doesnt love running, but he likes it. That might as well have been a minute in the world of elite track and field, especially given that it was his first 200-meter race of the season. You can jog on kids.". They told him they saw a lot of potential. Invitational in Baton Rouge, La. He says there are a lot of people he doesnt know that hate on him out of jealousy. Congrats, to Joe Sipp for seeing the potential in Erriyon as a track & field athlete. He considers himself a good student; he gets all his work done. Yohan Blake of Jamaica, the 2012 Olympic silver At the end of the day, they really just help me. We bring the power and the strength, and hes got the speed, Sipp said. Bromell, the years fastest at 9.88 in the 100m, finished second in 20.20, his best since 2015. Holloway, the head Olympic track coach, spoke to Knighton after the race. You may have more than one ad-blocker installed. He finished just off the podium in Wednesday's final. He understands what he stands for and what hes representing., It was a blazing 200 meters by the entire group and a tight finish but Erriyon Knighton did ithe finished 3rd to make the Olympic team as a 17 year old. He is younger than any US Olympic male track and field athlete since miler Jim Ryun in 1964, according to Olympedia.org. Jackson was born just a few months before his dad claimed the silver medal in Beijing. He was recruited to multiple colleges for football but decided to go pro in track before his 17th birthday and signed with Adidas. I wanted to be better than everyone else, he said. https://www.hhstoday.com/life/2021/02/25/erriyon-knighton-the-sprinter/#comment-89567. I am not the perfect 200m runner, I am still learning as I run it.". I thought if I got a little more training, I could be one of them.. I talked to him before the USA Championships, and I said, You have to run the 200 meters. You cant take it as, Oh, my God, I have to win this USA Trials. If you run 200 meters to the best of your ability, youre going to be fine.. At school, hes decked in everything Adidas. We charge advertisers instead of our readers. I wanted to do track all year long, he said. I take it they are not saying that now? Erriyon Knighton became the fourth-fastest man over 200m as he clocked 19.49 seconds at the LSU Invitational. "I only started running track in the ninth grade," Knighton remembered. I knew nothing about track. "It felt great," said the mild-mannered Jackson, who won by more than 13 feet and who opened the day by throwing 55-05.50, about 10 feet better than his personal best, set last year. He finished fourth in 19.93 seconds behind the Olympic champion Canadian Andre De Grasse, silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, and bronze Over the quarantine summer, the summer Knighton made the AAU record, Knighton trained with Coach Sipp and a coach from AAU. 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. He is younger than any US Olympic male track and field athlete since miler Jim Ryun in 1964, according to Olympedia.org. Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images). Knighton, who ranks seventh among Americans in the 200m since the start of this year, will face stiff competition to crack the top three and make the US Olympic team with Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek and Terrance Laird (who have each run 19.81 or faster) having separated themselves from the pack. He also marked his personal-best record of 19.88 seconds in a heat that included world champion Noah Lyles, another Team USA athlete heading to the 200-meter final at Tokyo 2020. Sipp remembers Knightons first track meet. To score more touchdowns. He was just a fraction of a second off Usain Bolts world record in the 200. He followed the decision made by Tamari Davis, a then-16-year-old who also turned pro in January of 2020. According to an HHS Today article from February 2021, Knighton was a receiver for the high school football team. Adding that he and his family would like to be a little more included with these things. Contact Grossman at 321-242-3676 or hgrossman@floridatoday.com. He thinks it would be much harder for him to keep working if he didnt. 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. Erriyon has not mentioned his parents name to us, but his father is a former basketball Students, teachers, cafeteria workers, custodians, the place erupted, said Eric Brooks, the schools athletic director. He would hit the weight room. He goes about his business the right way and takes this very seriously. But when his coach asked him to join track in his freshman year, he committed. WebOther Career Highlights . Knighton is self-assured, diligent and fearless, unmoved by fame, his coaches said. "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. At the Tokyo Games, Knighton, at 17, was the youngest American track Olympian since the renowned miler Jim Ryun in 1964. "It's the first night, and you know how electrifying the first night of the Olympics is with everything going on," Christian said. U.S. sprinter Erriyon Knighton wins his qualifying heat of the men's 200-meter earlier this week. Similarly, Erriyon Knighton is of American origin. Hubris fed by hype. Knighton began competing in track & field in 2019 as a freshman at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida. The shock brought some awkwardness in his hips and he ended up letting the guy behind him beat him, so he placed second. With comparisons to retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolttwo of whose 200-meter youth records were broken by Knightonthe pressure will be there for the teenage Florida native at Wednesday's final. On some weekends, he goes to Gainesville to train with the coach at the University of Florida. It was how fast Knighton crossed the finish line at such a young age that was startling. "In other schools in the area, people say to my class-mates 'you go to school with Erriyon', but for people in my school they see me every day, so it ain't nothing.". Erriyon Knightons Parents ( Father, Mother), Siblings. You may have to select a menu option or click a button. It all started from there. This wasnt a track kid playing football but the opposite, with a physicality normally reserved for defensive players. Knighton started playing football when he was seven. Knighton, who aspires to go to medical school, started running his freshman year when his football coach said it could help make him faster as a wide receiver. Who Is Erriyon Knighton? It took a month to decide. He looks up, spots a hole in the onrushing defence and darts through, evading Bromell, the years fastest at 9.88 in the 100m, finished second in 20.20, his best since 2015. meet. As a professional athlete, signed by Adidas, Knighton gets paid six-figures to wear Adidas merchandise and sprint. Worrying that there might be too many vacant slots in matches. Theyre looking from the outside in. Erriyon Knighton stands a good 6 foot 3 inches tall and has not stopped growing compared to Bolts 6 foot 5 inches tall. There were murmurs that it was too much, too soon. 19.84 is one Im probably thinking about breaking the world record, Knighton said. Knighton noticed that the workouts for track were much harder than football. Shoot, hes nearly half a second faster than Bolt at the same age. The Big Red Boys & Girls Track & Field programs are well coached and represented! I was a little surprised, but not really. The comparison is an honor, Knighton said, but, no, he doesnt want to be the next Bolt. "I think I signed an autograph actually, it got that chaotic. Terry has to call his name to break the reverie. "Not an option of mine to go play football.". While on the East Coast of Florida at the AAU Games, Jackson didn't havetoo much free time, although he went parasailing dad stayed grounded at Port Canaveral on Friday. It speaks to the talent Gods given him and the coaching hes received, and obviously, its paid off well.. The teenager was deflated. I definitely can be faster, he said. I dont really show emotions toward stuff like that.. Last night, he only had a 6-ounce steak, but he did have two foot-longs earlier in the day. 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. Erriyon Knighton (born January 29, 2004) is an American sprinter who specializes in the 100 and 200 meters. Two and a half years ago, hed never been in a track meet. 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. Hes a fun-loving kid to be around. A final defender comes haring across, all pumping thighs and straining arms. Just electrifying, every time he touched the ball. He said he didnt see track in his future until after the Junior Olympics, and his motivation for working so hard before that was pure pride. Holloway told him, I dont want you to ever forget how you feel right now; and remember, you dont ever want to feel this way again.. At just 18 years old, the under 20 world record holder is hungry for more, starting with the Lausanne Diamond League WebAs of now, the details of Erriyon Kinghtons parents are far from the public platforms. Everybody knew he could be special, Sipp said. Erriyon Knighton is an American Sprinter whose parents and family background are still a mystery. Then, there he was, a year later, at the AAU Junior Olympics in Satellight Beach. He presently owns the world under-18 and world under-20 marks in the 200 meters with a run of 19.84 seconds recorded on June 27, 2021, in the US Olympic Trials. 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