There was a time when the starter’s pistol sounded like a coronation trumpet for Sha’Carri Richardson‘s boyfriend, Christian Coleman. Stadiums would hush, breaths would hang, and then boom, he’d explode down the track, turning anticipation into awe. His 9.76‑second blitz in Doha 2019 felt like destiny, the moment the sport anointed its new King Dash. Back then, you didn’t wonder if Coleman would win; you wondered by how much, and how loudly the clock would gasp. Fast‑forward to 2025, and the crown sits crooked and wobbles more than ever. And the most recent blow only makes the aesthetics worse.

On June 14th, just three months before the World Championships, Christian Coleman stepped onto the track at the Star Athletics Sprint Series, looking for redemption after back-to-back disappointing finishes. Instead, he walked straight into a nightmare. In the prelims, a jaw-dropping upset unfolded: 18-year-old Maurice Gleaton Jr., a high schooler whose personal best was a modest 10.25s, stunned the crowd by beating Coleman clean. Gleaton clocked 9.87 seconds (+2.4 m/s), outpacing Coleman’s 10.03 and delivering one of the most shocking blows of Coleman’s pro career. Yes, you read that right.

The world-ranked #3680 sprinter, Maurice Gleaton Jr., dusted the world #11 in the 100m rankings. And not just any veteran, the former world champ himself. It’s the kind of headline one expects to see in a fantasy league, not a professional sprint series. For a kid whose best 200m time used to sit at 20.61, beating Coleman, whose own 200m best is 20.11, felt like a leap from high school hallways to Olympic-caliber havoc. But the chaos didn’t end there.

In the final, all eyes were on whether Maurice could back it up. And then… the dreaded “FS”—False Start. The teen prodigy didn’t even get out of the blocks. His fairy tale turned into a cautionary tale in a split second. The win ultimately went to Brandon Hicklin (9.92), with Coleman salvaging second place in 9.93, barely ahead of adidas’ Terrence Jones Jr. (10.04). Still, the damage was done in the prelims. Maurice Gleaton Jr. may not have made the final, but he made a statement.

He reminded the world and Sha’Carri Richardson‘s boyfriend, Christian Coleman, that the sprint world is shifting. Fast. And if Coleman isn’t careful, the horror show of 2025 may just become his full-season storyline. Because of this horror show? It didn’t start here. It’s been unraveling since 2024. Remember that heartbreak in Paris? That Olympic letdown?

After Paris pain, is Christian Coleman still a world title threat?

Christian Coleman’s Paris 2024 Olympic campaign ended in heartbreak. Once a feared starter and a title favorite, he failed to make the podium in the 100 m final despite a sharp start; he faded late and couldn’t hang with the finishing power of the world’s best. Hopes shifted to the 4×100 m relay, where Coleman ran the opening leg. But disaster struck when a fumbled baton exchange with Kenny Bednarek led to a disqualification. Just like that, what was expected to be a medal-winning Olympics turned into a painful no-show on the medal table. The struggles have continued into 2025.

Christian Coleman opened his season at the Pepsi Florida Relays on April 5, running the first leg in the 4×100 m alongside Kyree King, Erriyon Knighton, and Robert Gregory. They finished second in 38.16, narrowly edged by Team Great Britain (38.09). On April 19 at the Tom Jones Memorial, Coleman competed in the 100 m and came third. At the Diamond League in Xiamen (April 26), he placed 4th in 10.18 s, trailing Akani Simbine (9.99), Omanyala (10.13), and Azu (10.17). In his next outing, Coleman finished in 5th place in the men’s 100m. He ran a time of 10.13 seconds. But on May 18 in Tokyo, he finally hit the podium, taking 3rd in 10.11 s in the Seiko Golden Grand Prix.

Still, amid the shadows, Justin Gatlin remains confident. On his Ready Set Go podcast, Gatlin called Coleman “the best starter in the game” and reminisced about how dominant he was. But Gatlin isn’t the only one showing faith. Coach Rob, from the popular Coach Rob Track and Field YouTube channel, gave a brutally honest yet supportive take. “He was supposed to win,” Rob said of Coleman’s 2024 Olympic Trials effort. “If the Olympic qualification rules didn’t limit the number of Americans to just three, he would have been in the Olympic final—almost definitively.” He added, “Once he got there, all bets were off.”

Looking ahead to 2025, Coach Rob sees both promise and pressure: “Christian Coleman is not in front of the race midway through, and then other athletes pull away. I’m not crying wolf, it is what it is.” While acknowledging Coleman’s wins earlier in the 2024 Diamond League, Rob kept expectations grounded: “He’s going to be judged not just on making it to Worlds or the final—he’s done both—but on leaving with a medal.” The ultimate standard? “Really, what we want to see is a gold medal because we’ve seen him show that kind of form before.” And Rob closed his assessment with a reminder of Coleman’s ceiling: “9.76 seconds is the line; no man has run faster since Bolt retired. Christian Coleman is one of the few men who’ve matched that exact time.” The stats might say decline, but the legend says: don’t count him out.