American Sprinter Erriyon Knighton begins season with sub-10 at Florida Relays

Exciting young sprinter Erriyon Knighton began his season with a sub-10 at the Florida Relays. Competing in the 100 meters for the very first time at the Florida Relays, Knighton ran a sub-10.

The 2023 Florida Relays were held in Gainesville from March 31 to April 1. Erriyon Knighton chopped 0.06s off his previous best in the short sprint event to win his heat in a wind-assisted (2.1m/s) time of 9.98 seconds, according to the Olympic official website.

Jelani Walker clinched second place, clocking a time of 10.01s. Joseph Fahnbulleh finished in third place with a time of 10.04s. Out of the aforementioned sprinters, Jelani Walker missed out on clocking a sub-10 time by the slightest of margins.

Erriyon Knighton of Team United States competes in the Men's 200m Semi-Final on day five of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 19, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.

Erriyon has finally clocked a time below 10s in the 100 meters after clocking a string of excellent times in the 200 meters. According to the official website of the Olympics, the American sprinter became the fourth fastest 200-meter sprinter when he clocked an impressive time of 19.49s at the LSU invitational.

His new personal best of 9.98s in the 100 meters will be the latest feather in his cap, which already has several records. Erriyon Knighton will be looking forward to surpassing legendary sprinter Usain Bolt's record of 19.19s in the 200 meters.

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Erriyon Knighton opens up about his goals for the 200m

Speaking to Olympics.com in a recent interview, Erriyon Knighton opened up about his goals for the 200-meter event. He also stated his desire to go sub-19 when he was asked how fast it was possible to run 200 meters. The exciting young sprinter said,

"I actually want to go sub-19. I don't want to say it's possible. It's possible, but you never know. Only one human went under 19.20."

The human mentioned by Erriyon is none other than the legendary Usain Bolt. The Olympic gold medalist clocked a time of 19.19s in the 200-meter event at the 2009 World Championships for Athletics in Berlin. Bolt is also a world record holder in the 100-meter as well. He won gold medals in both 100-meter and 200-meter events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics.

Speaking further about his plans for the upcoming years, Erriyon Knighton said,

"Anybody's going to want to beat the record of the all-time great, but at the same time, I still have to knock each down one by one. It's not going to be an easy task, it's going to be hard. I definitely think I can do it but it's just I have got to work hard and to really have a lot of self-confidence."

The American sprinter feels he can improve himself in the near future. He also claimed that he doesn't run a perfect 200 meters. Erriyon said,

"I don't run a perfect 200. People ask me how I run a 200 and I just tell them I just get out there and run it. Like I don't really have a race strategy. But once I learn how to actually run the event and get in sync with it, then I think it'll be a great time to see me run a 200."

Knighton has a huge career ahead of him. Last year, he was awarded the rising star of the year 2022 award at the 2022 World Athletics Awards. He won the same award in 2021 as well.