American Teenager Erriyon Knighton Breaks Usain Bolt's 18-Year Record
Published
| Last updated
Erriyon Knighton, remember the name.
The 17-year-old has carved his name into the sprinting history books after breaking Usain Bolt's Under 18s 200m record.
Wow.
17-year-old high school junior Erriyon Knighton runs down Trayvon Bromell and wins the 200m at the Duval County Challenge in Jacksonville.
He runs 20.11 (wind-legal) -- just .02 shy of Noah Lyles' 20.09 US high school record from 2016.https://t.co/9FZHtZk67T pic.twitter.com/a5shhuPrwo
- Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) June 1, 2021
Competing at the Duval County Challenge Track League in Jacksonville, Florida, Knighton came from behind and blitzed the race to finish with an impressive time of 20.11 seconds.
Incredibly, this time was actually 0.02 seconds quicker than eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt's time which he recorded back in 2003 - an 18-year record until Knighton entered the picture.
Oh, and it wasn't a wind-assisted run either which makes Knighton's feat even more special.
"I've definitely got to respect them, top of the world," the teenager said.
"But I feel like I brought my A game today."
Breaking a Usain Bolt :flag_jm: record, even in the youth category, is always shocking
This boy, only 17 years old, timed 20.11s to set a new U18 World Best in 200m ... Erriyon Knighton :flag_us: :clap::clap:
:movie_camera: @MediaNSport credit pic.twitter.com/SYr7SZqTfH
- Victor K Almeida :newspaper: (@AlmeidaVictorK) June 1, 2021
When comparing Knighton to his fellow countrymen, you can see why there's so much hype surrounding him.
His most recent race means he officially boasts the seventh-fastest overall time for the 200m by an American sprinter, which has qualified him for the Olympic trials later this month.
If Knighton is selected, it would make him the youngest male athlete to make the United States' track and field team since the 1964 Olympic Games in - you guessed it - Tokyo.
Erriyon Knighton, remember the name.@ErriyonK breaks @usainbolt's world U18 best over 200m.
20.11 :eyes:
:newspaper::https://t.co/FsT2n8teSF pic.twitter.com/X9NzI3K8sa
- World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) June 1, 2021
According to multiple reports, Knighton only started specialising in track events in the past two years.
Since then, he has singlehandedly shattered records in every age group he has competed in.
And in just a short space of time he has managed to prove just how naturally talented he, so much so that he has turned professional at the age of 17.
It turns out Knighton's not a bad 100m sprinter either, clocking a time of under 10 seconds in recent events - albeit wind-assisted.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@erriyon
Topics: olympics, Tokyo Olympics, Video, record, watch, Australia
