Yeah I'm so interested in what's really behind this? Is this some weird mental crux/anxiety he has about committing to the 400m long term? Is he scared of the expectations that would exist if he were just to say "yeah I'm a 400m guy and my goal is to win the Olympic Games and challenge the WR one day". So instead he opts out by saying "I'm going to the 100" - where he is a good 100m runner, but never going to be a serious contender (let's get real here - he's not). So now he can coast along no expectations and if he doesn't make teams he can just sit back and the narrative will always be "well it's not his best event so it's fine".
I have just never ever heard of an athlete that had the legit capability to win the Olympic title and break the WR turn around and say they wanted to opt out of the event under this assumption he had mastered it with one world title.
I’m still baffled by it, especially considering the context of the US and qualifying for the Olympics and future world championships. We’re stacked in the 100. It’s one of the most difficult teams to make. Why leave an event in which you’re the country’s heavy favorite for an event where you have a much lower chance of making the national team?
Because he hates the 400. He doesn't talk to media very much about his training life and history and there isn't very much information out there either. It's easy to think that he had an easy prep career because of his times in high school but he was pretty fragile and prone to injury. It's shocking that he was able to run the times he did (especially in the 100) off of the training he did. He almost quit track his freshman year at USC because of injury. He just doesn't like the 400, so I was never surprised that he tried to jump ship when he had the opportunity to. He's been talking about running the 100 for a while, too.
If he hates the 400, then I guess I can understand switching. I would just think he’d hate missing the Olympics even more.
I would hate running the steeplechase, but if I knew I was our country’s absolute best runner in that event, I would stick with it rather than dropping down to mix it up with Nuguse, Hocker, Kessler, Teare, Sahlman, and those Washington guys in the 1500.
If he hates the 400, then I guess I can understand switching. I would just think he’d hate missing the Olympics even more.
I would hate running the steeplechase, but if I knew I was our country’s absolute best runner in that event, I would stick with it rather than dropping down to mix it up with Nuguse, Hocker, Kessler, Teare, Sahlman, and those Washington guys in the 1500.
I agree. WR potential in the 400. You don’t walk away from that.
I’m still baffled by it, especially considering the context of the US and qualifying for the Olympics and future world championships. We’re stacked in the 100. It’s one of the most difficult teams to make. Why leave an event in which you’re the country’s heavy favorite for an event where you have a much lower chance of making the national team?
Because he hates the 400
Is this your opinion or a fact that most don't know about?
Aside from that just wanted to point out what he ran in high school 2016 - 100: 10.27 (-1.2) 2016 - 200: 20.15 (1.2) 2015 - 400: 45.19
As a pro his bests are 2020 - 100: 9.86 (+1.6) 2019 - 200: 19.70 (0.7) 2020 - 400: 43.45
If you normalize for the wind readings, his lifetime pb is maybe 2-3/10ths of a second faster in the 100 and 3-4/10ths in the 200 vs his best in high school, but his 400 best dropped by 1.74 seconds. So not only has his 400 always been slightly better than his 200 and likewise his 200 slightly better than his 100, but he also improved more in the 400 since high school.
Whatever the case, certainly appears his best days are behind him, unfortunately as most men's bone density and speed peak around the age of 23-24, then slowly drop off. Scientific studies show this and WRs support it in the "real world".