Vashti Cunningham Going Pro

She does look technically proficient, very proficient actually, and mentally poised for an athlete her age. Dads fame really adds to her marketability.

At Pan AmJrs she was down to her last jump (with the bar under her PR) so what does she do? Asks for the bar to be moved up to a PR and clears it . Mentally poised.... seems so.

Here is our recap of the HJ which includes the video interview with Vashti:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/03/vashti-cunningham-randalls-daughter-wins-world-high-jump-title-announces-shes-going-pro/

1.96m is not exactly that 2.03m that someone on the board was asserting was an absolute certainty here, but world indoor gold at 18, even against a weaker field, is tremendous. I think in nearly all cases in track and field that it is a mistake to go pro and skip the college track and field experience, but she is obviously a gamer who jumps her best when it counts and she will be a finalist and probably even a contender for medals for the next ten years, if not more.

She's mature, though dad might have told her not to pre-announce or to mention the company before negotiations took place.

Minimum $1.5M/year contract through 2024.

kjv wrote:

Minimum $1.5M/year contract through 2024.

This is pure speculation with no foundation in reality.

The expression talking thru your hat would only apply if you were sitting on your hat.

LetsRun.com wrote:

Here is our recap of the HJ which includes the video interview with Vashti:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/03/vashti-cunningham-randalls-daughter-wins-world-high-jump-title-announces-shes-going-pro/

She shouldn't have talked about it. She said hopefully Nike, meaning they can probably low ball her now. She also said she hadn't thought about College... Obviously not really prepared to answer those questions. Should've responded 'all of this will be decided in the coming days/weeks, the main focus of the last few weeks was USAs/Worlds'

She is smarter than you think.

Now NIke will look bad if its not them (ie, they need a strong offer on the table).

Whoever said 1.5M though is pretty optimistic.

frederk wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

Here is our recap of the HJ which includes the video interview with Vashti:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/03/vashti-cunningham-randalls-daughter-wins-world-high-jump-title-announces-shes-going-pro/

She shouldn't have talked about it. She said hopefully Nike, meaning they can probably low ball her now. She also said she hadn't thought about College... Obviously not really prepared to answer those questions. Should've responded 'all of this will be decided in the coming days/weeks, the main focus of the last few weeks was USAs/Worlds'

I believe her college response was her answering the "which college" question even if that was not actually the question.

Nike, adidas, PUMA in the running.

Why don't you find out how much Jenna Prandini received? Did you learn about Andre DeGrasse's $11M contract,

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/trackandfield/andre-de-grasse-pro-1.3350515

You guys are out of the loop. Cunningham is competitive now for an Olympic Gold and will be for the next 10+ years!

Hey let's run. Could you invest a little money into a better camera for your interviews? Image stabilization and a boom mike would go a long way to improving your videos.

This is a mistake on her part. Her famous dad has done a great job up to this point but the smart thing would be to accept that in order for his daughter to continue progressing they should entrust her next four years to somebody more knowledge, like Rovelto or Kyprianou, and a competent collegiate strength and conditioning program. The dad stuff he has her do right now is beyond unorthodox. The Eastern Europeans will take her lunch money outdoors.

check1234 wrote:

My kid is in grade 8 and already thinking about University and which ones to attend.

Wow what a super-dad, pat yourself on the back if you haven't already! Most 8th graders just think about snapchat and beiber

World's number 1 dad wrote:

check1234 wrote:

My kid is in grade 8 and already thinking about University and which ones to attend.

Wow what a super-dad, pat yourself on the back if you haven't already! Most 8th graders just think about snapchat and beiber

Age 13 or so? Man, that's a tough time of life, with literally EVERYTHING changing around you, and within you. It's really tough to try and keep steady bearings. To add thoughts of college to that mix before even understanding what the high school years will bring? I'd tread cautiously for the sake of the daughter's mental health...letting life unfold at it's own speed and changing course as input from her changes.

What takes more intelligence: winning a world high jump that will net you a 6-figure annual salary for the first decade of your working life, or posting anonymously on a message board insulting an 18 year old by saying she's a 'total moron' and writing you hope she's 'WAYYYYYYYYY smarter'

check1234 wrote:

She sounded like a total moron regarding school.

My kid is in grade 8 and already thinking about University and which ones to attend.

If she's smarter than she sounds, I hope WAYYYYYYYYY smarter

We're all sitting at home just thinking how darn lucky your kid is to have your compassionate genius at the helm of his life ship. How about you use your elevated intelligence to lay off calling Vashti a total moron

On a message board with actual ethics and moderation, this s*** would be deleted and the poster banned. We all know this comment - which does not represent the average LRC consumer though it is of course being praised by others with habitual mouth-breathing and robe-wearing patterns - wasn't being busted out for a white champion. Well, everyone knows that except Rojo, who will use the GOP reality inversion technique to label ME the racist, for bringing race into this f***tard's racially-charged, 'my eighth grader is already thinking about university' jab.

Hey LRC moderators: have you thought about how someone calling an 18 year old a 'total moron' fits with your standards? I mean, calling Seb Coe a corrupt pig is one thing - there's plenty of evidence that he's exactly that - but calling a brilliant performer a total moron based on the interview I saw is completely out of line, and highly disturbing to me. This person may legally be an adult, but I just have a little policy that says, if an adult with an 8th grade son is lobbing harsh insults at an 18 year old woman, then I'm just gonna have to raise the red flag on this creeper

As LRC always grandstands, I'm sure this type of messaging, on the thread they've highlighted, on the athlete they've highlighted, is 'Great for the sport'. LRC: we Make the sport great again, one un-moderated dog-whistling thread at a time. You all are a f***ing joke.

And finally, I'll just point out that Randall was a black pro athlete for a long time, so he should be able to teach about the thick skin required to deal with idiot discussions like this one, which gives me some reassurance. This thread isn't 20 posts long and already people have insulted Randall's intelligence, his daughter's intelligence, and compared them both to white people who are held up as smarter and more capable than them (in one case, the 'Eastern Europeans' - which I assume includes the creators of Ivan Ukhov - and in another case, an 8th grader who is presumed to be the model of adult responsibility because he's allegedly formed several thoughts about 'University').

What elite high-school athlete has not thought about University?

Let me guess your answer:

THE SMARTEST ONES

LetsRun.com wrote:

Not a big surprise but high school sensation Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of Randall Cunningham, announced after the meet she is turning professional. She hasn't signed a contract but when asked was hopeful it was going to be with Nike.

Excuse me if I am being dim, but how can you decide you are professional if you have no sponsorship? You are professional when paid to do something, it's an amateur hobby until then, surely? The only difference between Vashti and an "amateur" collegiate athlete is that she doesn't go to college.

She is pro as soon as she accepts the prize money, if it is more than the reasonable cost to attend the meet...

Metric Miler wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

Not a big surprise but high school sensation Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of Randall Cunningham, announced after the meet she is turning professional. She hasn't signed a contract but when asked was hopeful it was going to be with Nike.

Excuse me if I am being dim, but how can you decide you are professional if you have no sponsorship? You are professional when paid to do something, it's an amateur hobby until then, surely? The only difference between Vashti and an "amateur" collegiate athlete is that she doesn't go to college.

She just won 40k for winning world indoors and 5k for US indoors in the past week. I think that qualifies as being a professional.

Donald Trump would say the sam ething