Look no further for the cadet (20”13) and junior (19”88) world records of legend Usain Bolt over 200 m, set in 2003 and 2004. They were mocked from the shelves in spring 2021 by a man . A young man. Erriyon Knighton, 17.
The name may be less melodious, but you’ll have to get used to it, because you will probably have it for the next ten years. In the microcosm ofAthletics, we make it easier. Everyone calls her ” the phenomenon “. “We’re talking about a meteorite, poses Stéphane Caristan, European champion in the 110m hurdles in 1986. When Usain Bolt arrived, it was already exceptional. The proof, he marked his time and is the greatest sprinter of all time today. There, it defies understanding. When someone goes beyond the supreme benchmark, we expect phenomenal stuff… ”
“He didn’t just beat Bolt’s records, he blew them up”, adds another Stéphane, Diagana this time, world champion in the 110m hurdles in 1997.
” A meteorite “
With Erriyon Knighton, everything is going at supersonic speed. On May 31, he broke the Jamaican legend’s cadet record over 200 m, in 20”11. Less than a month later, on June 25, at the American selections for the Olympics, he further lowered this record to 20”04 in the playoffs, by cutting his effort in Bolt fashion, finishing ahead of the world champion Noah Lyles.
But on the legendary Eugene track, the best is yet to come. In the semifinals, he slammed a mind-blowing 19”88, setting himself the junior world record for “L’Éclair”, the only junior to have fallen under 20 seconds. In the final, Knighton did even better: 19”84. This is how a 17 year old young man improved his record by almost 30 hundredths in three weeks… All to become the youngest American athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games since runner-up Jim Ryun in 1964.
He was playing American football in his high school
The numbers are staggering. “We have talented people in France like Sasha Zhoya or Jeff Erius, who just broke Zhoya’s junior French record over 100 m in 10”34, assures Stéphane Diagana, who comments on the athletics events at the Games at the microphone of France Televisions. But here we are on another planet. Being competitive at the international level as a cadet is exceptional. “
Born January 29, 2004, when Usain turned pro, Erriyon Knighton first trained in American football at his high school in Tampa, Florida, as a wide receiver. One day his trainer told him to try his hand at sprinting and a few weeks later he landed a contract with Adidas. The three-striped brand sniffed out the goose that laid the golden eggs, as Puma had done with Bolt.
–
Erriyon Knighton (left) facing Noah Lyles at the US Olympic trials in June. © AFP
The comparison with its glorious elder does not end there. There are flashes of Bolt in the physique of the young American. Stéphane Caristan: “I saw him run during the American selections. He has a bit of the same build as Bolt: tall (1.91 m against 1.95 m for the Jamaican), slender for now. He doesn’t look like much, doesn’t start very hard, but on the other hand, he has a straight line, a finish, a speed endurance at that age that defies understanding. “
Bolt-like physique
“It is a large morphotype more at ease a priori on the 200 m”, confirms Stéphane Diagana, who still imagines him with a good margin of progress to shine on the queen distance, where he has “only” a record at 10”16. “ Bolt twisted his neck to this biomechanical reality that makes it harder for grown-ups to leave. Someone competitive at 20m with that height, it’s almost impossible to go after. If he is able to improve on the first 30 meters, he is someone who will inevitably do damage over 100 m. “
“I no longer remember Usain Bolt’s races when he was junior world champion, but in my opinion it was not a fighter plane in the starting blocks, Stéphane Caristan again points out. It is true that Knighton is not, for the moment, a great tacker. But Bolt, in Athens in 2004, wasn’t as good on the corner as he later became. He must have taken at least five kilos between Athens and Beijing. And this year there is another question: how is he going to handle a long season at his age when it usually ends in June for him? “
“9”50 over 100 m and less than 19 ” over 200″
Usain Bolt, who has just been a father of twins, had confided at the end of his career that he wanted to be able to tell his children later: “Daddy is the fastest man in the world”. He had better not wait too long. Because according to the two Stéphanes, his natural qualities combined with the advent of new points could allow Erriyon Knighton to aim for the world records of “La Foudre” (9”58 over 100 m, 19”19 over 200 m) . “If we project, it will become monstrous, announces Stéphane Caristan, consultant during the Olympic Games for Eurosport. We can imagine that in four years, for the Paris and Los Angeles Games, he will be 9”50 over 100 m, less than 19 ” over 200. We look at the size of what he has achieved. , things we never imagined feasible three months ago. “
–
17-year-old Erriyon Knighton (right) finished 3rd in the 200m final at the US Olympic Trials in 19”84. © AFP
These records, however, we imagined seeing them hold for a long time to come. “It’s just twenty years since Bolt was on the radar, he notes again. When you imagine that, twenty years later, a 17-year-old kid is already archiving the records of the supreme reference, I wonder how it is possible. “
“It would be a mistake to wait for the Messiah”
So there may not be a need to wait half a century to find the exceptional sprinter capable of carrying world athletics. But precisely, Stéphane Diagana warns: “I think Bolt did as much good in athletics as he did bad in the end. With him, the athlete was exposed, everything was fine, but suddenly, we did not look into the deep reforms necessary to manage not to be dependent on a figure. You need it, but that’s not what makes the system attractive and visible. It would be a mistake to wait for the Messiah to put athletics back in the spotlight. It would be necessary to take advantage of this absence for an overhaul of the calendar, a recurrence of meetings with the best. “
So quickly. Because Erriyon Knighton is a man in a hurry.
– .
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/b1f86adc-f3c3-11eb-b718-02d2fb1aa1d7.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
