Erriyon Knighton is the new rising star in the world of sprinting. The now, 2o year old former prodigy is aiming for a medal at the Olympic Games, for the first time. Considered one of the fastest men in the world, he is only behind Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Noah Lyles and Michael Johnson.

The American athlete specializes in 100 m and 200 m and has a personal best of 10.04 seconds. He also holds the world best of 19.84 seconds in the under 18, 200 m category.  Despite being so young, he is already in the leagues of the world’s greats. So, when did Knighton get into the game?

Erriyon Knighton’s entry into track

Erriyon Knighton, born in Jesup, Georgia in 2004, moved to Tampa with his mother. As an active child in elementary school, he had a lot of spare energy to burn. That was when he found a faithful companion in football. Knighton and his friends were obsessed with football, spending hours playing it. Then, in 2019, his coach recommended he get into track to stay in shape during the off-season.

The transition to track and field was a little difficult for him but was made easy by his brilliant football coaches. “After the season is over, you don’t want to just go back to doing nothing, so I kind of just did it (track and field) to stay in shape,” Erriyon explained to RedBull news. “I found out I was good at it, so I just started to do it every year after that.”

Is Erriyon Knighton in college?

In January 2021, Knighton signed a sponsorship deal with Adidas. He was in his junior year of High School when he signed the deal. This led to him giving up his remaining two years of amateur competition at Hillsborough High. This move cemented his decision to pursue a professional career in track and field, instead of continuing with his studies. While Knighton was in high school, top football programs like Alabama and Auburn attempted to recruit him, but again, he chose track and field, giving up several scholarship offers. Now, Knighton was certain about going pro.

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His manager, Ramon Clay, introduced him to Mike Holloway. Mike is the head coach of the men’s track team at the University of Florida. Holloway gave Knighton a trial run and was quite taken aback by the power he put into his acceleration. According to him, Holloway agreed to coach Knighton, who needed to make some major technical adjustments to his form.

As of now, Erriyon Knighton has his eyes set on an Olympic medal. During the Tokyo Olympics, he had missed the podium by just one spot. “I just look back to where I was, on that big of a stage at a young age, and I just look at my progression and how I grew over these last few years,” he says. “I’ve gotten bigger and I got stronger, so I’m definitely going to be ready.” He is all the more geared up for the Paris Olympics 2024.