It seemed like Frank Fredericks would be the only man to break the 20-second mark in the indoor 200 meters when he ran 19.92 seconds in Lievin. The Namibian set the record in February 1998, and in the three decades since, the closest anyone had come was Elijah Hall (20.02). But that was until Garrett Kaalund arrived on the scene.

He became the first man in thirty years to do so and put on a show for those watching. The University of Southern California sprinter came from behind to surge past Jelani Watkins and blew past the 20-second mark to create history. His 19.95-second run made him the first American to break the 20-second mark in the indoor 200m and set an NCAA record as well.

It certainly was a scintillating run from the USC star to close out the NCAA Indoor Championships, but it has been coming. He entered the race as the top-seed and the favorite after a record-breaking run in his last sprint. In fact, Garrett Kaalund broke his own USC record when he ran the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a time of 20.06 seconds.

That gave him third place on the all-time fastest men’s indoor 200m list, but it wasn’t enough for the 22-year-old. If anything, he wanted to shatter that as well.

“Instead of saying, ‘Oh, I want to run this time,’ I tell myself, ‘Alright, I want to prove myself wrong,’” Kaalund said as per Daily Trojan. “‘I don’t think I can reach this, but I want to prove myself wrong.’ Every time I step on that track, I want to prove myself wrong.”

And prove himself wrong, he has. This season, the 22-year-old has been in exceptional form, breaking the proverbial glass ceiling in the process. His times of 19.95, 20.06, 20.11, and 20.12, all run this NCAA Indoor Championships season, are among the fastest indoor 200m times ever recorded.

Kaalund also has the second-fastest time in NCAA indoor history in the 300m indoor, when he clocked 32.10 seconds to open his indoor season. Then, with his first 200m time of the season (20.12), he broke the USC school record that was set by seven-time Olympic medalist Andre De Grasse in 2015 while also breaking into the NCAA and all-time top-10 lists.

He then did it three more times. To put it in perspective, if the rules allowed multiple records, Garrett Kaalund would have four inside the top twelve and three inside the top ten all-time list.

But all this would not have been possible if not for a decision Kaalund made when he was still in high school.

Garrett Kaalund touches upon the choice that defined his career

The now 22-year-old started running track because of his mother. She signed him up when he was still a child because of his nature, but soon realized that her son had natural talent. However, despite that, Garrett Kaalund didn’t decide to focus on track until his junior year of high school.

“There was a point in high school in which we sat down and were like, ‘Alright, either we can just let track go and completely focus on academics, or we can see how far we can really get with track,’” Kaalund told the Daily Trojan. “And I was like, ‘Well, God gave me the gift, so I’ll make it to its fullest extent.’”

That decision changed the course of his life, especially after injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic postponed his first full high school track season until his junior year. But it didn’t seem to affect Kaalund as he burst onto the scene with a third-place finish and then a second-place finish in the 400m. It led to him being recruited by Nebraska at the collegiate level, running track for two seasons with them.

During that period, Kaalund earned a silver medal in the 200m at the Pan-American U20 Championships in 2023 and at the USATF U20 Championships. But that wasn’t enough, as he eventually transferred to USC in August 2024 and has since thrived. So much so that in the last race of the 2026 indoor season, he ran only 0.03 seconds behind Frank Fredericks’s world record.

However, only time will tell if Garrett Kaalund manages to break Frederick’s record or if the Namibian’s time stands the test of time.