16-year-old Erriyon Knighton (20.33 200) turns pro with adidas

How cool is that in 11th grade and knowing moneywise you are set for life, other kids his age have bikes maybe cars and he has Mega yachts with Captains and Private Planes with Pilots, other kids might have their own room, he has Mansions in multiple states, all with yards big enough to have his own 400 Meter Tracks and other facilities that would put power 5 Conference schools to shame, His contract puts him moneywise with people like Elon musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates etc.

Congratulations to him.

Jonathan Gault wrote:

To my knowledge, this is the earliest a US male track & field athlete has ever turned pro. I know Candace Hill turned pro at 16 after her sophomore year in 2015. I can't remember anyone else turning pro before the end of their junior year.

Obviously there's a degree of risk here, but 20.33 is ridiculous for a 16-year-old./

Candace Hill will likely be the relevant comparison.

She is so much worse than when she was 16. I figured she would be.

School, whether HS or university, is the optimal training and racing environment when young.

The young lack the personal discipline and social skills, so end up unchallenged in any path but running. This lack of balance creates the problems.

Would you want a 16 year old to forgo schooling to be paid as a professional singer or baseball player? Not in today's society and marketplace.

By analogy, there was an alarming statistic in 2019 that 70% of those who won the lottery or similar windfall go broke within a few years.

the world has gone to hell

I disagree. Especially for a sprinter.

People always take a super long term look at running which makes sense if you’re a super talented kid that can run fast times in say the 1500 but are more of a 5/10k guy, because you’ll have plenty of time to move up later.

But would you rather have your competitive career end at 26 with a gold medal or end at 34 with a gold medal? Training at the highest level is extremely hard and that’s 8 more years of pushing your body to the limit.

Remember, Bolt broke the 200m world record at 25.

Why is it in the US that we spend so much time on “developing” athletes for longer careers yet our athletes at 10k and marathon are all mediocre except for Rupp? You have high school coaches saying wait till college, then college coaches saying wait until you go pro, then what happens?

It’s very rare for athletes to have careers stretch into their 40s or late 30s like Nick Willis, Lagat, and Abdi.

We need to start focusing on getting athletes faster at the age that they’re supposed to run fast, their mid-late 20s.

How to do that? Well that’s a whole different debate.

Completely agree with Dairyland. Why are those who flushed their prime years down the NCAA toilet offended when someone else doesn't? For some, Dairy admits, their prime years come later and/or last longer. But for all the Carlos Lopes types who do amazing things in their 30s, there are far more whose peak years are in college and they haven't been heard from since. Remember, both Lagat's 1500 PR and Abdi's marathon PR were set very long ago now. In their 20s, probably (given uncertain birth dates).

Get it together now! Don't wait until you're 40.

I believe this is a similar discussion to the one that occurs on this Board whenever someone not out of college runs a marathon. (An American, specifically.

The 2:03 and 2:17 crowd have nothing to do with American high schools or the NCAA. They seem 'allowed' to run roads while young according to the mob.). Uproar ensues. You should focus on the mile in high school, the 5k in college, and only them 'move up'! You have the rest of you life to run marathons!

Well, how has that been working out? The Americans who did what all of you are telling them to do and then later became world class marathoners by today's standards can be counted on your hands. The Hall's, Deena, Rupp. OK, maybe one hand. I'll give you a few more to fill out 10 if you insist, but how many kids run high school track? It's less than 1% that end up making it. In fact, it's not 1% of 1%. But maybe the arguments is different when looking at sprinters. Perhaps it was unfair to bring up the marathon.

Sprinters do better in the common US system, so it could be argued that school-affiliated running is not a guaranteed train wreck, but it's close. The best sprinter in the world right now certainly wasted no time with any college coach, racing schedule, rules, nor the related poverty. Lyles did the right thing. This dude is too. It's what Bolt did. He was getting paid the second he had the opportunity to do so. The day a bunch of followers who 'obey' and run for schools until their mid-20s are faster than Bolt or Kipchoge is the day anyone should take your 'run for your high school, then for a college, then go pro' nonsense seriously.

Why is this my first time hearing his name?

What a stud.

Who?

Unless you run 800m or up, I don’t care about you.

Completely agree. . .and if these young sprinters are fortunate enough to have strong parents, solid coaching and a good agent guiding them, they have a chance to have a great career and a life after it is all done. Maybe even a college degree along the way.

.[/quote]

I disagree. Especially for a sprinter.

People always take a super long term look at running which makes sense if you’re a super talented kid that can run fast times in say the 1500 but are more of a 5/10k guy, because you’ll have plenty of time to move up later.

But would you rather have your competitive career end at 26 with a gold medal or end at 34 with a gold medal? Training at the highest level is extremely hard and that’s 8 more years of pushing your body to the limit.

Remember, Bolt broke the 200m world record at 25.

Why is it in the US that we spend so much time on “developing” athletes for longer careers yet our athletes at 10k and marathon are all mediocre except for Rupp? You have high school coaches saying wait till college, then college coaches saying wait until you go pro, then what happens?

It’s very rare for athletes to have careers stretch into their 40s or late 30s like Nick Willis, Lagat, and Abdi.

We need to start focusing on getting athletes faster at the age that they’re supposed to run fast, their mid-late 20s.

How to do that? Well that’s a whole different debate.[/quote]

Nah, the USA is one of the few places in the world where track is a 'school' sport. And its fading weekly as colleges close shop.

And you're argument about older sprinters is not held up by evidence. The longer you sprint the more often or likely you are to be hurt. Sprinting, apart from a few who have been 'aided' and abetted, is a young man's game.

College has you for 4 years and they don't care about your late 20s. I know, I've been there. Done that.

Probably a smart move. If he’s a “man amongst boys” he’s very likely maxed out physically or nearly so. In hoops there’s a long line of 15-16 year old superstars who maxed out at that age (Schea Cotton anyone?). Get paid while you can. Just don’t blow the money.

The reason African runners began to dominate long distances a few decades ago is because they turned professional as teenagers instead of wasting their youth at to American and European colleges. Meanwhile American runners are funneled to colleges to entertain boosters and pay sports department salaries. Cheserek used up his talent at Oregon. Ingebrigtsens didn't go to college, which nobody every mentions.

The arguments are about making money now, rather than waiting.

Myopic view.

If signing sprinters when young doesn't produce much faster times, and it has not for Candace Hill, then the demand for young sprinters will disappear, leaving only athletic scholarships.

For decades, Jamaica's economy quite different than that the USA because of so many low-skill jobs and lifestyle, and maybe both Candace Hill and Erriyon Knighton would have done quite well if from Jamaica and signing to run professionally. In the case of Jamaica sprinters, I would advocate signing whenever one can.

Jamaica is both a Third World country and a developing country. Jamaica's economy is considered an upper-middle-income economy but is one of the slowest developing economies and depends on tourism, mining, and agriculture with no significant industrialization

Jamaica Avg. gross salary (USD) US$ 16,643

Society's opportunity costs in the USA are much higher than in Jamaica.

Where are Candace Hill's times faster than when she ran in HS?

When she signed to go pro, I predicted she would not break 11 seconds again, at least for several years.

If she had waited until 20, with a full HS racing schedule and a couple of years running in college before signing, would she have broken 11 seconds many times by now?

If so, she could expect very large fees for competing and for shoe contracts, because she would be one of the very best in the world.

Henrik Ingebrigtsen actually had one season(2010-2011) at Texas AM but got injured and had his breakout season after leaving texas starting training with his dad as a coach in 2011-12 (breaking NR, 1st in Euros 1500m and cross country, 5th in olympics)

If a big sports company is paying a once in a generation high schooler good money to turn pro there's little opportunity cost. College can come later without the distraction of cross country, indoor, and outdoor seasons and championships. It's cynical to rationalize exploiting children from third world countries or from poor families by noting they have no other options. Anyway, the US is wealthy enough that people can take six years to graduate college, serve in the military for years to save for college, or start medical school in their 30s. In Europe they take gap years to just travel around.

Great strength to the finish. Let’s hope he doesn’t steal cars like the previous prodigy. There’s not many Lebron’s in the world. If he can keep his head straight, he’ll be alright. Candace hasn’t really planned out, but she hasn’t had a massive collapse. Hunter and Lyles are also doing well. Maybe adidas knows how to deal with these young talents better than others. Good luck.

douglas burke wrote:

How cool is that in 11th grade and knowing moneywise you are set for life, other kids his age have bikes maybe cars and he has Mega yachts with Captains and Private Planes with Pilots, other kids might have their own room, he has Mansions in multiple states, all with yards big enough to have his own 400 Meter Tracks and other facilities that would put power 5 Conference schools to shame, His contract puts him moneywise with people like Elon musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates etc.

Congratulations to him.

Theres zero way this contract sets him up for life first of all.

I think it's a little too early in this case. He had relatively no publicity. I just think he sold himself short but he could get injured tom and at least he has something I guess.

Compared to say Boling I think he actually did mess up. There was sooo much hype about him during his senior year. He runs the greatest hs time ever (wind aided of course) but he doesn't cash in. I can't imagine his stock will ever be higher than it was unless he goes and wins the 100 and 200 in college. I'm not sure he'll ever repeat what he did in the 100 his senior year.

I think coming back and at least running the spring out in his junior just may have been better for him.

In the end I'm glad that the fastest kid in the country is going track over football for once tho. Good luck to him. Hope this kid has some great parents because he's gonna need them. Any 16 year old with thousands of dollars is a recipe for trouble.

I think Davis and Williams did make the right decision tho. They had hype for years before they signed.

makestoomuchsense wrote:

The reason African runners began to dominate long distances a few decades ago is because they turned professional as teenagers instead of wasting their youth at to American and European colleges. Meanwhile American runners are funneled to colleges to entertain boosters and pay sports department salaries. Cheserek used up his talent at Oregon. Ingebrigtsens didn't go to college, which nobody every mentions.

Hahaha track isn't making any colleges money. Get real. Track is lucky, like all sports except for basketball in football, that basketball and predominantly football makes soooo much money that kids have scholarship opportunities in all the other sports.