Two friends, two diverging paths. When Tyrese Haliburton was just a young boy from Oshkosh chasing his dream of making it to the NBA, he had his good friend right beside him. But his friend was less sure of his dream, with basketball, football, and track pulling him in different directions, followed by a series of odd jobs as an adult. In the end though, that friend finally rose to track glory this year by claiming 100mH world gold, filling Haliburton with pride: “10 years ago, we would drive to AAU practice together and dream about where we are today. God is Amazing, Proud of my brother LFG!!” Confused about who we’re talking about?

It’s none other than Cordell Tinch. In his recent conversation with Ato Boldon, he opened up about his remarkable comeback story, revealing how he lost himself in basketball until Haliburton’s presence reminded him where his true passion lay: track and field. Reflecting on that transformative phase, Tinch shared, “When you’re spending so much time constantly-I’m traveling with him all the time from April to July, you get real close. And you know, it was because we were the ones from the suburban areas from up here.”

He further added, “We kind of gravitated towards one another more and more, and it just kind of blossomed through kinda everything. But I’d always told him, he’s the reason why I realized I knew I didn’t love basketball as much as I thought I did, because his work ethic when it comes to basketball, I just never had the drive for. Like, I was good at it, but I didn’t have the drive behind it like I do now, of looking at a workout and being happy to go do it. That’s how he always was about basketball. So we kind of knew he was going to make his way to where he is now.”

“I said, ”Look, you make it to the League, either that means I’m going to the NFL or I’m gonna be at an Olympic stage one day. We talked about where we both are a decade ago,” continued Tinch.

Tinch’s road to glory was anything but smooth. He began at the University of Minnesota, ambitiously juggling football and track, a rare feat for any Division I athlete. But the pressure soon mounted, and he realized that continuing both would only work against him.

After careful consideration, Tinch chose to focus solely on track and field. He later followed his coach to the University of Kansas, where he qualified for the NCAA Championships, only to be ruled ineligible due to academic transfer issues. “Stayed there for about a year until Covid shut everything down. I went home and didn’t do too much school work when that happened,” said Tinch.

After battling academic setbacks and the COVID-19 shutdown, Cordell Tinch vanished from the track and took up regular jobs, even selling cell phones to make ends meet. But just seven months later, everything changed. In 2023, he roared back with one of the greatest collegiate comebacks ever, sweeping NCAA DII indoor titles and reigniting his legend.

And guess what, like everyone, he entered the World Championship with hopes, and it certainly helped him, but how did the hiatus make him a better hurdlers? Let’s find out.

How did a 3-year hiatus help Cordell Tinch in winning his medal at Tokyo?

Cordell Tinch didn’t just win gold in Tokyo, but he dominated everyone, including fierce rivals such as Tyler Mason and Orlando Bennett at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. It was just another victory for a few, but for him, it was a statement from the stars that his career was just starting. His three-year break helped him reflect on what he wants from his life. Talking to the media, he revealed, “I think that without me finding myself, without me stepping away from sports in 2019-2020, to be able to find myself, I don’t think I would have found myself on the top of the podium in 2025.”

Tinch expressed that being away from the sport made him understand that he needs to work much harder upon his return, “Being able to step away from sports in general, kind of living through things that I don’t wanna do, you know. I don’t wanna sell phones, I don’t want to work on paper mills, I want to have my own hours, be able to work toward something as a goal.”

Since his return, the athlete has been unstoppable. In May 2025, at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai-Keqiao, he clocked 12.87 seconds in the 110m hurdles, a time that made him the joint-fourth fastest man ever in the event. Now, with a gold medal to his name, the question remains: how far can he go