"Wanted to be Usain Bolt";"Embarrassing"- Fans react to British sprinter's 200m loss after leading first 150m at European Athletics U18 Championships

At the 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships, British sprinter Jake Odey-Jordan experienced a dramatic setback during the 200m heats. The 16-year-old got a powerful start in heat 4 of the men’s 200m and looked set to secure a comprehensive victory.

However, about 50m from the finish line, Odey-Jordan strangely lowered his pace, believing that he had a healthy lead over his competitors. Unfortunately for him, it was a miscalculation as his competitors closed in.

Although he tried to increase his pace, he was unable to regain momentum, which resulted in him finishing fourth in his heat with a time of 22.12s. The heat was won by Sweden’s Bram Persson, who clocked 21.79s.

European Athletics took to their X (formerly Twitter) to share the video of this 200m race. They captioned it as:

“A valuable lesson learned in #BanskaBystrica2024! Don't ease back *that* early...! 😬”

Track and field fans were stunned to see the casual approach followed by Jake Odey-Jordan during the 200m race.

A user on a social media platform commented that even the legendary Usain Bolt wouldn't have eased up so early in the race, stating:

“Bro wanted to be Usain Bolt so bad. Even Bolt never started jogging when 25% of the race was still left 😭😭”

Another fan opined that it was an embarrassing result for Jake Odey-Jordan:

“That’s embarrassing lmao”

Meanwhile, another user argued that this wasn't "easing up" at all, highlighting that the athlete stopped running altogether.

“Can you even call this easing up? He pretty much just stopped running,” they wrote.

Here are some other reactions that the video generated:

“Arrogance and disrespect to the other competitors,” a fan believed.

“Great idea if the race was 150 meters”, another fan stated, adding a touch of sarcasm.

“My brain is hurting trying to understand this,” another fan tweeted.

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A look into 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships’ schedule and live-streaming details

Athletes compete in Men 110m Hurdles at the European Athletics U18 Championships 2024. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images for European Athletics)

The 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships is currently underway at the Národný Atletický Štadión in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. The event kicked off on July 18 and will conclude on July 21.

The European Athletics website is providing live streaming of the championships in English. Alexandra Stefania Uta, Vita Barbic, Anastazja Kus, and Roch Krukowski are among a few top names to watch out for at the European Athletics U18 Championships.

Great Britain has been the most dominant nation at the European Athletics U18 Championships, bagging 38 medals, including 19 gold, 7 silver, and 12 bronze medals. Germany and Italy occupy the second and third positions with 31 and 29 medals, respectively.