Michael Norman Switching to 100m

very interesting article. i wish i could see him defend his 400 title, but it is what it is. i’m honestly more suprised he isn’t also doing the 200 - you would think he has a 19.5 in him after what we’ve seen over the past few years. then again, a 19.5 might not even medal over the next 2 championships.

norman has been my favorite runner for a long long time and i’m excited for him. i’m gonna guess low 9.8 this year. i really hope he makes it on both relays, that would be something amazing to see.

Many, including myself, did not believe Kerley had a hope in hell at the 100M. He proved us wrong. I am more confident of Norman's ability at the 100M than I was of Kerley's. I believe he will be a superior 100M runner to Kerley. Actually better than Lyles will be. Time will tell.

It’s like being light heavyweight champion of the world but wanting be the heavy weight champ.

That's fair as far as notoriety in the USA or Jamaica. I do wonder if it's that amplified everywhere else.

Sprinters who run the 400 train for the 400 should have an advantage at 100m.

I was at the West Coast Relays in Fresno long time ago. Jim Kemp a 45.2 cat out of Kentucky State was entered in the open 400, but nobody showed up so he asked the powers that be if he could run the 100, yep, he won in 9.3 his first 100 yard dash. Actually he looked more like a 100 sprinter too muscular for 400.

I am a big believer in Michael Norman as an athlete at anything from 100m through 400m. I don't want to question his toughness or will to win or to be the best, as he has amazing pr's from 9.86 (1255) to 19.70 (1268) and 43.45 (1290 IAAF points), plus 43.56, 43.60, 43.61, and 43.79. From his limited experience in the 100m, he surely knows he has room to improve and get in the 9.7s, seeing Kerley's results. The fact is that the money and attention are usually in the event with the world's fastest human, and that is the 100m and 200m. He's 25 and has years to go still at his peak. At the same time, until last summer when he won gold in a slower time, he's done poorly at almost all the major championships, except for the relays. Maybe that is just injury problems or maybe he doesn't have the will to dominate. He's kind of self-effacing in interviews. Just because you don't have Michael Jordan's personality doesn't mean you aren't a very good person.

9.86 is 9.86 but I guess I was skeptical of that time and/or his top end speed but probably shouldn’t be. If you can run 9.86 you can run 9.86.

I mean to be fair to us, it was at a staged meet for him to get his Nike contract obligations fulfilled. He ran like 5 races unseriously and a 9.86 (+1.6) too. Do we know that the wind gauge/timing system/blocks were all done properly? I suppose they probably were. In 2021 the larger sample size was around 9.95 basic. Good 200s last year. Could see why avoiding Lyles/Knighton would be preferable but the 100 is still daunting

Michael johnson was/is a legend and never really touched the 100. But I agree more money in 100 (if you’re the best)

Is that why Usain Bolt was able to run 9.58 and beat his doped peers?

Going to talk some 400/100 cats here

Herb McKenley a WR 400m man an Olympic 100m silver

Henry Carr, Tommie Smith and McKenley world ranked in all three sprints in a season.

Auburns Willie Smth sub 45.00/9.3

Kansas Cliff Wiley 44.7/9.3

Gil Roberts sub 45/10.13

Ja' Warren Hooker, Henry Thomas, belong.

The fact Bolt spent all those years training as a long sprinter had to have helped, now add 6-5 stride.

I'm not going to doubt him. The 9.86 was an atypical meet but I remember being startled when Norman from an adjacent lane got the jump on Lyles at 200 in Rome several years ago and then extended that lead into mid stretch. He certainly looked like a sprinter.

Let's face it, for all his ability Michael Norman has very strange erraticism at 400 notably a tendency to stiffen up in the chest. At that point you can tell he's out of it. If he can make the transition to short sprinter I think he'll be a lot more dependably fluid and athletically arrogant. The one thing that 9.86 clip does reveal is more high kneed athletic arrogance than he's ever displayed at 400. These guys thrive off that type of attitude.

I definitely like Norman more than Lyles at 100, based on that race in Rome.

i noticed the knee thing too and i’m glad you pointed it out again. i remember actually being very very surprised by it at the time - i couldn’t even tell who was norman at first because of that and the fact that he wasn’t wearing his headband.

runnersworld.com

Olympian Michael Norman Shifts Focus from 400 Meters to 100 Meters

He’ll race the event this summer in Eugene, Oregon, ahead of the World Championships. Norman joins a stacked group of 100-meter hopefuls.

Open link

Norman, who has a WC 400 bye, focusing on 100m, having accomplished everything he intended in the quarter.

We’ve always had this idea that once I develop and accomplish the goals that I want to do in the 400m, that the goal will be to drop down to the 100m,” he said. “I can comfortably say that I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve in the 400m and I can start challenging myself and trying something new in attempting to medal and break records in the 100m.”

If he's comfortable with his achievements, he's not going for sub-43, which would be a shame. He's not breaking any national or world records in the 100m this year or next,

He seemed to confer on Insta on his birthday that he needed motivation.

Better testing for the speed peptide that the 400m guys are using is forcing them all to drop down to the 100?

Way back when Jamaican/Illinois sprinter Herb McKenley took second in the 1952 Olympics in the 100 and 400meters. Also at those Olympics was histories first sub 45.0 4x4 split 44.6, Jamaica winning the gold in WR time. World ranked in all three sprints.

Tommie Smith also world ranked in all three sprints and histories first sub 44,0 4x4 split.

Henry Carr simply told he will anchor our Olympic 4x4 team he was that revered due to his ASU exploits. Also world ranked in all three sprints.

There is where Norman will belong with his multi sprints talents.

Really guy, all of them, you sure about that? How many 400m cats have 100m speed, who else?