Erriyon Knighton is one of the world’s fastest sprinters and a World Championship medalist in the 200 meter dash, and at the Olympics he just barely missed earning a medal, finishing in fourth. However, Erriyon is only 19 years old, and he chose to skip college to become a professional when he was only 16 years old. He isn’t just a medal threat in any international competition he enters, he is the fastest sprinter the world has ever seen in the 200 meter dash under the age of 20, and that’s even faster than Usain Bolt. The world has been waiting for the next Usain to take the track, and the truth is that Erriyon Knighton is up next. Amongst all the great young sprinters, he is honestly the only one whose performances actually match up to Usain Bolt, and he is following the exact same script that Bolt left behind when he retired. So here is why Erriyon is the only sprinter of his generation who can actually touch Usain’s dominance one day. 

Erriyon and Usain dominated the World Junior level, without trying that hard

 The problem with comparing anyone to Usain Bolt is that most people don’t really know how he got started. They remember the world records and the showmanship, but not everything that led up to it. We’ve seen great young sprinters in the past, who were faster than Bolt was at any given age, but that’s like pulling up to a middle school basketball game and predicting who will become a hall of fame player. It takes time for greatness to develop and Usain’s dominance was no different. So he focused specifically on the 200 meter dash, and dominated the World Junior level before anyone was really paying attention, just like Erriyon Knighton and neither of them were trying that hard when they did it.

All the way back in 2003 Usain Bolt won the World Junior Championship in the 200 meter dash and that season he set the 18 and under world record in the event. But he also tied the world junior record for athletes under 20 years old. Erriyon Knighton is 19 years old right now, and at 17 he actually broke that 18 and under record with his performances in 2021 because it might as well be a rite of passage. But the world junior record itself still belonged to Bolt, until 2022 when Erriyon would shock the world running 19.49 and 19.69 to leave no doubt that he is the fastest junior sprinter ever.

The fast times are only part of the battle, up until that point Usain Bolt was notorious for not taking track as seriously as he should have. In fact he played other sports entering high school and it was his cricket coach who pushed him to give track and field his full attention. Similarly, Erriyon Knighton was a football player in high school, and he was so good at it, that he was a 4 star recruit in that sport. So whatever early success they’ve had is the result of an athlete with so much natural talent, that they didn’t have to give the sport their full attention. Both of them ran other events as juniors and were really good at them, but they weren’t breaking any records at that time which is fine because it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. 

Erriyon and Usain became Olympians as teenagers

The truth is that when Usain Bolt started running with the pros, nobody really noticed him because he wasn’t in the front of the race yet. But what matters is that he was actually there holding his own with the best. Most people forget that Usain Bolt first competed in the Olympics in 2004, not 2008. Back when he was just about to turn 18 years old. He only made the first round of 200 meter dash, primarily because he was recovering from injury. What matters is that he made the Olympic sprint team in Jamaica as a junior athlete. A team that is just as hard to make as the American one. So Erriyon Knighton has taken this page out of Usain’s book by showing up to the Olympics before he turned 18 years old. Like Bolt he didn’t win a medal, but he also wasn’t recovering form an injury. He actually got fourth place in the 200 meter dash. Not too bad for someone who should have been running a state championship that year.

Erriyon and Usain skipped college, and never looked back 

The biggest thing Erriyon has done to.walk in the footsteps of Bolt is skipping college, and never looking back once he did. Usain Bolt was offered many scholarship opportunities to run for American colleges. He turned them all down to learn how to become a professional after his first crack at the Olympics. Allyson Felix for the record did the same exact thing in 2004, and she now has more international medals than any sprinter in history. Erriyon turned professional and chose to skip running in college, and he doesn’t seem to be worried about it. Young sprinters go pro early, but normally they look like they have made a mistake after the fact. Noah Lyles famously skipped college, but his performances for the 4 years after that would not have been untouchable by other NCAA sprinters. Simply put it takes time to develop into a professional and a world champion. Specifically the kind that can break world records when they do it. Erriyon seems to be right at home running as a professional, while he’s still learning how to mow the lawn and trim the hedges. Bolt won a bronze medal in the 200 meter at the world championships in 2006, 2 years after his first Olympics. And Erriyon did the same thing, only one year after his. Erriyon doesn’t need to be the World Record holder at 19, he just needs to stay on pace with where Bolt was at that point in his development. And he’s been ahead of the curve until this point, every step of the way. 

The Bottom Line

Usain Bolt is the greatest sprinter in history and he has the world records, and Olympic medals to prove it. He eventually went a span of nearly 8 years in a row where he never lost any international competition in a 100 meter or 200 meter dash, barring one unfortunate false start. He practically never lost to anyone for years but he didn’t start out that way. Although Bolt stayed at the top of his game for longer than we could have ever dreamed of, the journey to get there is what made it possible. But now Erriyon Knighton has the blueprints to go off of, and he’s been following them to the letter. He’s even making a few improvements along the way. So it might take him a few more years to break his first world record, but the truth is he’s right on schedule.

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