Being tall and lean is the most important factor for having next level sprinting speed. Longer stride length trumps everything when you're approaching max speeds. He just turned 18 in January so he might still be growing.
Did you get about 39 strides over last 100 meters? Almost 101 inches per. Splits looked to be about 10.0/9.49 give or take a .01.
I believe bolt was 9.92 for his first 100m in his 19.19 WR. 9.27 second 100 split. Johnson's second 100m was faster- 9.188 to be exact.
Knighton has a little way to go. Certainly might go faster this year, and WR on the horizon in a couple years, but he may have to go out in 9.95 on the turn and 9.20 coming home to get it!
Knighton has been racing 100Ms. Those 100Ms plus his confidence from 4th place in the Olympics have told the young man, the sky is the limit.
I have been telling people about Knighton and Jaylen Slade for 3 years now. Knighton and Slade are the only two with the potential to break Bolt's records.
I thought Noah Lyles would have been the first of the current crop to run a a sub 19.5. Glad to see Knighton did it.
Fact: This phenomenally gifted young man has, to date, garnered far less attention or mentions on this forum than Matthew Boling, who has a few years on him. ¿Por qué?
Just maybe it has something to do with Bolling competing in 20 times in individual events this year, compared to Knighton's total of...3 10.61 10.39 and 10.04
Knighton is great, he's better, but he hadn't done anything major to talk about this season before today. Now he has, and we're talking about it.
Not everything is racist El Keniano, give it a rest.
Don't see the kid beakiing Bolts record, but do think 19.31 might be a possibility breaking MJ's American record.
Imagine what a 19.5 was like in the 60's, it was considered to be the greatest performance in track history. This kid talking on lengendary status already, already in with Bolt, MJ, Smith, Blake, Lyles.
Look before anyone somehow misunderstands me: of course it was an incredible scintillating time.
But....
There have also been some OTHER pretty crazy, amazing performances in track and field history that deserve respect before we immediately shove them into the Dustbin of "runnerup" greatness history. Quite a few in fact.
Look before anyone somehow misunderstands me: of course it was an incredible scintillating time.
But....
There have also been some OTHER pretty crazy, amazing performances in track and field history that deserve respect before we immediately shove them into the Dustbin of "runnerup" greatness history. Quite a few in fact.
Ryun's 3:55.3 mile in high school would be about a 19.33 200 for Knighton- %wise. Just based on current world records at the time. Who knows maybe E. Knighton will break American record this year.
Look before anyone somehow misunderstands me: of course it was an incredible scintillating time.
But....
There have also been some OTHER pretty crazy, amazing performances in track and field history that deserve respect before we immediately shove them into the Dustbin of "runnerup" greatness history. Quite a few in fact.
Could you mention a few? Crazier than a high schooler running 19.49 in April? This would be like if Kessler ran 3:26 last year, or if Sahlman broke 13:00 next week, or if Brazier ran 1:41 his senior year.
By WA tables, it's the first 1300 performance by a HSer. I think the next closest is 1280 in the PV by Mondo. I'm pretty sure this is also the highest an 18 year old has been on an all time list outdoors, but I think Mu ran #2 in the 600i in HS. That's nowhere close to the performance that Knighton just ran, though.
The only ones I can think of that rival it in terms of age + performance are:
Kipchoge's 2003 WC win (if he was 18, but it seems like he couldn't have been much older given it's been almost 20 years and he's still running). I think it beats Berega's 12:43.
Maybe one of Jakob's races? 3:30 at 18, or 3:28 at 19? Kwemoi also ran 3:28 at 18. Arguably Ryun's 3:55 or 3:51.
There are some races that stick out if we take away that age factor. Bolt's 08/09 records, Warholm's 44.94, MJ's 19.32, Kipchoge's 1:59:40/2:00:25/2:01:39, and I hear Wanjiru's 08 Olympic Marathon was crazy. If we include field events, I think Beamon's LJ beats it.
All in all, the only one I can think of that is in the same realm is Kipchoge's 2003 win. Gonna be tough to beat that, since he beat El G and Bekele at the same time. Knighton must be the gold medal favorite for this year though, right?
Oh I forgot about Athing Mu last year, but she deserves to be on there. NCAA, National, and Olympic titles at age 19 is crazy. I think I only didn't consider it because she got consistently better every race, so there was never one performance that stuck out as a crazy jump out of nowhere. When it comes to crazy performances, I'm thinking ones that were most unpredictable. I definitely couldn't have predicted a 19.49 yesterday, but Mu was my gold favorite last year. Knighton's gonna have to win gold this year + get the AR to top Mu's season tho lol.
You could really also pick any of Kipchoge's races in the past few years for a conversation of age + performance given that 1:59:40 and 2:01:39 at his age aren't just world records, but he's also at an age that people generally consider past their prime.
Look before anyone somehow misunderstands me: of course it was an incredible scintillating time.
But....
There have also been some OTHER pretty crazy, amazing performances in track and field history that deserve respect before we immediately shove them into the Dustbin of "runnerup" greatness history. Quite a few in fact.
Could you mention a few? Crazier than a high schooler running 19.49 in April? This would be like if Kessler ran 3:26 last year, or if Sahlman broke 13:00 next week, or if Brazier ran 1:41 his senior year.
By WA tables, it's the first 1300 performance by a HSer. I think the next closest is 1280 in the PV by Mondo. I'm pretty sure this is also the highest an 18 year old has been on an all time list outdoors, but I think Mu ran #2 in the 600i in HS. That's nowhere close to the performance that Knighton just ran, though.
The only ones I can think of that rival it in terms of age + performance are:
Kipchoge's 2003 WC win (if he was 18, but it seems like he couldn't have been much older given it's been almost 20 years and he's still running). I think it beats Berega's 12:43.
Maybe one of Jakob's races? 3:30 at 18, or 3:28 at 19? Kwemoi also ran 3:28 at 18. Arguably Ryun's 3:55 or 3:51.
There are some races that stick out if we take away that age factor. Bolt's 08/09 records, Warholm's 44.94, MJ's 19.32, Kipchoge's 1:59:40/2:00:25/2:01:39, and I hear Wanjiru's 08 Olympic Marathon was crazy. If we include field events, I think Beamon's LJ beats it.
All in all, the only one I can think of that is in the same realm is Kipchoge's 2003 win. Gonna be tough to beat that, since he beat El G and Bekele at the same time. Knighton must be the gold medal favorite for this year though, right?
Ryun’s 3:55 beating Snell remains the greatest single US high school performance in any sport, period. Not sure what to think about EK’s win in 2003. Yes, that would top Ryun, but was he really 18? I agree, if we was older, then what he’s doing now is even more insane. Did he really run 12:52 as an 18 yr old and beat El G and Bekele or did he just win Tokyo in 2:02:40 as a 40 yr old? It’s mind blowing either way….
Per earlier question: Who's coaching him? Who's he training with? Yes, an incredible performance at any time of the year, but the last day of April is just awesome. On the other hand, if he is living and training in South Florida, where he is from, there is really no winter there to dictate running "seasons." He could have been doing mid-season sprint workouts in February. And probably was, to judge from his 100m times.