Christian Coleman was a World Champion in the 100 meter dash back in 2019. Since that time, things have not gone according to plan. He is the world record holder in the 60 meter dash, which is perhaps the greatest display of raw sprinting ability, that the world has ever seen. But almost nobody ever talks about Christian as one of the world’s greatest sprinters right now. It’s probably because we haven’t gotten used to seeing him in the front of the race after that moment. Since Usain Bolt left the track, the world has been waiting for another sprinter to take the throne. Yet Christian Coleman not only belongs in the conversation, the crown has been waiting for him to claim it. So he’s headed into the 2024 Olympics with something to prove. If he pulls it off, he can prove that he is not just another fast American. He’s actually one of the greatest sprinters in world history to ever put on a pair of spikes, 

The Rise of Christian Coleman

First things first, Christian Coleman is way better than most people realize. The only reason we don’t give him the credit is because track and field fans tend to get amnesia pretty quickly. In a sprinting generation where American men are dominating the podium, Christian is one of the few men who have climbed all the way to the top, consistently. At the high school level, saying that he dominated would be an understatement. Competing out of Georgia Christian ran 10.41, 10.38, and then 10.29 to close out his Senior season. The second fastest boy in the state only ran 10.45. So he wasn’t only the fastest, but he recorded 3 times that would have beaten any performance by anyone else. He actually won the private school state meet by a full half second in the 100 meter dash. For the record, it is really hard to run legitimately fast times when nobody is around to push you. 

However, track fans remember Christian Coleman from his time at Tennessee, where he would go on to run past everybody in the SEC conference. By the time he was a junior he swept the nation in the short sprints. He won the 60 meter dash, and indoor 200 meter. Before winning the outdoor 100 meter and 200 meter dashes. That’s already impressive enough, but he broke the collegiate record, in both the 60 meter dash, and the 100 meter dash. There’s no reason to even mention anything else he accomplished in college. That is literally as good as any sprinter can ever hope to get at the college level. So by that point anyone who was actually paying attention, knew that he wasn’t just fast. He was a once in a generation level talent. While competing in a generation with a whole lot of talent to go around. 

Even after finishing his collegiate season he continued on to qualify for the world championships in the 100 meter dash. That was in 2017 where he didn’t just make the final, he became one of only a few men in history to ever beat Usain Bolt in a 100 meter dash, getting second only to Justin Gatlin. Gatlin is an Olympic champion, so I guess Coleman gets a pass on that, because he had just been running in college not even 2 months before. There was no outdoor world championship in 2018, so Christian broke the indoor 60 meter dash world record to keep up his winning ways. In 2019 he did what we all know he was capable of, by winning the World Championship finally in the 100 meter dash, and beating Justin Gatlin to do it.

The Fall of Christian Coleman

After that competition is when things fell apart for Christian Coleman. Through the year 2019 he literally could do no wrong. Things only came crashing down when he got suspended in 2020 for whereabout violations. That is not exactly the same thing as failing a drug test. All that matters is you don’t actually have to fail a drug test to get suspended in track and field. It’s actually way easier to get a whereabout violation than most people think, because more Olympians than we recognize have at least one. Regardless he was suspended for 2 years, and while he was out, Marcell Jacobs of Italy won the Olympic gold medal in the 100 meter dash. Fred Kerley switched down from the 400 meter dash to the 100 meter himself. And perhaps the most impressive of all was when Erriyon Knighton who was only 13 years old in 2017, figured out that track and field, and not football was the sport for him. All these reasons are perhaps why Christian has been forgotten as one of the world’s greatest threats on the track.

Christian Coleman’s comeback

However, in 2023 Christian Coleman is back now. Like Justin Gatlin before him, it takes a while to get back on top of the world after any suspension. Christian ran at the 2022 World Championships, and finished sixth in the final. But remember Gatlin wasn’t winning everything either in his first year back. Christian finished second at the USA meet in 2023, losing at the line to Cravont Charleston. However the USA meet is just a formal warmup for the World Championship. Where Christian faded to fifth place in the final event. His only real atonement for that loss came in the Diamond League final. Christian Coleman is now the 2023 Diamond League champion, and he is tied for the fastest time in the world this year. 

Nothing can be promised about the future of Christian Coleman’s career. What we do know is how good he has been to this point. Christian Coleman is a winner, and he figures out how to do it at every level he’s ever raced at. He breaks records on the way there, and he’s clearly the best starter the world has ever seen. Nobody has proven they are legitimately better than him when he is on top of his game. You can call it a comeback if you want to. But the truth is, that if he never left, nobody else perhaps would ever even have a chance to win, to begin with.

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