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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Canada's Aaron Brown: Grand Slam Track brought platform, professionalism to sport
It was meant to be quite the finale in the City of Stars this weekend. Instead, the inaugural Grand Slam Track season came to a halt with the cancellation of its final leg in Los Angeles earlier in June. Advertisement The league became a talking point and a source of excitement for track athletes signed to Grand Slam Track, especially those from North America. It provided an opportunity for athletes to compete against the best without having to travel overseas. Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown, who competed in the most recent event in Philadelphia, feels the league brought something greater to the sport for Canadians. "For athletes in Canada or athletes in America, being able to just stay within the country or go to Jamaica somewhere on this similar time zone, you know, not having to go overseas it's a huge benefit," he said. "It allows us to have better performances too because you're not having a deal with such jet lag, ... you don't have to show up (to the meet) super early you can train a little bit longer and harder and be in your the comfort of your own home for a longer time." Advertisement Michael Johnson, the founder and commissioner of Grand Slam Track, said the league is looking ahead to 2026 and beyond. "Sometimes we have to make moves that aren't comfortable, but what's most important is the future and sustainability of the league,' he said as part of a statement. Brown says the opportunity is there for fans in North America to get used to the faces of the sport's stars that will be at the 2028 L.A. Olympics. "I think meets like the Grand Slam are finally going to get us to that point where we can take advantage of it," he said. "Especially heading into L.A. 2028, that's a huge opportunity for people to get used to who the stars are going to be in L.A., get an early look at them, and be able to follow them into their, into the journey to that meet. Advertisement "Which is huge because it adds a narrative and incentive for you to pay attention. And so I just think that if track and field wants to have a professional league, this is the best way for them to do it. And, you know, I'm invested in their success." Seven-time Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., is another one of Canada's stars to have competed in Grand Slam, in addition to 2023 800-metre world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop, who competed in both the 800 and 1,500 as a short-distance racer. Arop stood out among the Canadian cohort, winning the 800 races in the three Grand Slam events held. Although he didn't fare as well in the 1,500, Arop was among the top point-getters in the short distance group, finishing no lower than second and being first at the Philadelphia event. Competition aside, Brown said Grand Slam Track provided things that are not typically offered at other meets. Advertisement Brown said locally-sourced snacks were provided, on top of a drip check done to shoot athletes and display their outfits. Collab posts to helped athletes push each other's audiences. He also said athletes got their own rooms for accomodations, were given per diems that were provided "to go select the food ourselves," and that the prize money was "significantly more than any other meet that's available to the athletes." "I think at the very least, it gave us the blueprint of how a meet could be run and what's possible," Brown said. "Getting out of that myopic viewpoint that we have to follow the same model and do things that we've been doing for decades that has led to stagnation in the sport and not allow us to evolve and grow and adapt like all the other sports have. "So, I think just showing that athletes can be at the forefront. We have stars in our sports, and the more support we get behind it, the bigger it's going to be." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2025. Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
CTV News
2 hours ago
- Sport
- CTV News
‘It was just an honour': 10-year-old Ontarian becomes first Canadian World Ninja League champion for her division
Ella Crichlow-Mainguy at the World Ninja League Championships, right after winning the global title for her division. (Rachel Mainguy) Even though Ella Crichlow-Mainguy had to go through some hoops to make it to the World Ninja Championship, the 10-year-old Ontarian cleared the obstacles to clinch a global division title. The Acton, Ont. athlete says she first got into the sport a couple of years ago when she noticed a group training at the gym. 'I did rock climbing at Aspire Milton, and at the same gym where I did rock climbing, they had Ninja Warrior, and I just loved to watch 'American Ninja Warrior,'' Crichlow-Mainguy tells CTV News Toronto, referring to the televised show. She said once she tried it, she just couldn't stop. For those unfamiliar with this sport, ninja tests athletes through a variety of strength-testing obstacles. There are various stages with each that need to be cleared—either by hitting the buzzer or having a fast pace—before making it to the next round. 'There are canvassing obstacles, where there are like, cliffhangers, which are little ledges that you just have to hold on to with your fingers. There are aerial obstacles, which are latches, which are where you have to throw from one bar to another,' Crichlow-Mainguy explained. Competing Ella Crichlow-Mainguy at the world championships. (Rachel Mainguy) The young athlete adds that there are also obstacles that test for balance and grip strength. For the last two years, Crichlow-Mainguy would train twice a week with her team to go through these various challenges, as well as build up her endurance. When she's not at the gym, Crichlow-Mainguy practices at the makeshift rig at her home. 'Imagine something that looks like monkey bars for adults, and then things are hanging off of it,' Rachel Mainguy, Ella's mother, explained to CTV News. 'There's all these obstacles in our backyard right now.' Making it to the World Ninja League Championship The World Ninja League Championship was held in Greensboro, N.C from June 19 to June 23. To make it there, Mainguy says they had to take a connecting flight to Atlanta, Ga., which was supposed to leave at around 12:15 p.m. that Thursday but when they arrived at the airport, their flight was delayed. 'We missed our connectors, so now we're in Atlanta, it's probably 11 at night, we have no way to get to Greensboro,' Mainguy recalled, noting several other people had missed their connections. 'Now Delta is telling us we have to get in a lineup of 136 people, and they'll get to us by one in the morning.' The first event for Crichlow-Mainguy's division started Friday morning. The mother and daughter explained that they tried searching for rental cars, but none were available. 'Then, luckily, someone at the desk finds a flight that must have just populated for early in the morning and manages to get us on and Ella ends up sleeping on the airport floor on top of paper towels with her teammate,' Mainguy said. They arrived in North Carolina with enough time for Crichlow-Mainguy to change clothes and head to the coliseum to compete. 'It was just an honour' There were two events: the stages, which is where athletes can compete for the title of world champion in their division, and the discipline circuit. The first stage had seven obstacles with a time limit of one minute and 15 seconds, and the second stage had eight obstacles with a time limit of two minutes and 30 seconds, according to the championship rulebook. After each stage, those who did not hit the buzzer or finish with a competitive time would be eliminated from the next round, Mainguy said. 'Around 70 (athletes) got to compete on the final course,' Ella's mom adds, a drop from around the couple hundred that started. There was one particular obstacle in the third stage that Crichlow-Mainguy said was the most challenging part of the whole competition. 'There was this really cool obstacle, it was like a tipping L, and you have to climb to the top on these tiny little ledges with your hands and then it tipped down, and you could fall off if you didn't hold super tight,' she explained. Ella Crichlow-Mainguy Ella Crichlow-Mainguy competing in Stage 3 at the world championship. (Rachel Mainguy) Through the obstacles, Crichlow-Mainguy said her thoughts turned off and all she heard was her coach's voice 'Usually, he tells me to be confident and to commit to everything,' she said. And the 10-year-old then won the championship title among the mature kids female athletes. 'It was just an honour,' she said. 'I could tell how hard (the other athletes) worked for the whole year, so it was just an honour to even be there with them.' Crichlow-Mainguy's coach, Matt Hallak, told CTV News Toronto that not only was she the first ever world champion for their Milton, Ont.-based team, she 'cemented her name as Canada's first ever Mature Kid Female World Champion.' Ella and her coach Ella Crichlow-Mainguy and her coach Matt 'the Bat' Hallak. (Rachel Mainguy) 'Ella and her teammates made Canada proud and she is only just getting started…I can't wait to see what else happens for her in the upcoming season as this year she became the 20225 Canadian ninja League Champion and the 2025 World Ninja League Champion dominating in both our biggest events of the year,' Hallak said in an emailed statement. Next year, Crichlow-Mainguy will move up a division to compete with the preteens—something she's looking forward to as the obstacles become more challenging. 'I've been watching on the sidelines, the preteens get such really cool obstacles,' she said. I'm just really excited to try them.'
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Chinese sprinter gets leading gaokao marks on second go, earning a shot at top universities
A Chinese track and field sprinter has scored a staggering 462 in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, earning her a place in the country's top universities. Advertisement Liu Xiajun, 19, took the gaokao for the second time earlier this month after her score last summer fell short of admission to the country's best school, Tsinghua University in Beijing. Liu, who is from the city of Ziyang in southwest China's Sichuan province, rejected an offer from the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai in 2024, considered China's second best, to chase a spot at the institution in Beijing. 'I was very surprised [when I got my results] and asked my teacher: 'Is there a mistake in the results?',' Liu said. 'I believe that the most important factor in achieving such results before entering formal education is perseverance. Liu Xiajun won gold and silver medals at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in 2023. Photo: 'Despite the immense pressure of resitting the exam, you cannot think about giving up.
The Independent
7 hours ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Faith Kipyegon didn't run four minutes for the mile – but this is how she can succeed next time
Georgia Hunter Bell has just finished a jog around the idyllic Tuileries Garden. It's a scorching Friday in the Parisian sun, and the 1,500m Olympic bronze medalist has started to feel the fatigue from last night's run. It was no ordinary run, either, a pacing job that didn't quite reach 800m, an event she has claimed gold in a Diamond League meet already this season. But that searing pace still lingers because Hunter Bell travelled at sub-four minute mile pace, nine seconds faster per mile than her national record pace needed to claim bronze at last year's Paris Olympics in the 1,500m. Her endeavour was all part of Faith Kipyegon and Nike 's audacious attempt to shatter a barrier first transcended by Sir Roger Bannister in 1954, and while more than 2,000 men have followed, no woman has achieved the same feat. Kipyegon was on track at half-way and only faded as the bell approached, slipping back to finish in 4:06.42, 1.22 seconds better than her existing world record but more than six seconds outside her ambitious goal. This mark will not be officially recognised by World Athletics due to the use of 12 pacers, including 10 men, and a pair of unverified Nike super spikes, the Victory Elite FK, built with 3mm more foam to further accentuate a trampoline effect that has revolutionised running in recent years. 'I'm exhausted, but I've proven that it's possible,' Kipyegon, who also wore a special aerodynamic skinsuit with '3D-printed aeronodes,' defiantly declared afterwards. 'It's only a matter of time before I think it comes our way, even if it's not me, it will come one day. 'I will not lose hope. I will still go for it.' It should be noted, for context based on World Athletics Scoring Tables, Kipyegon target, in terms of points, was the equivalent performance to a 9.61 seconds in the men's 100m (Usain Bolt's world record remains 9.58 seconds) or a 3.22:98 men's 1,500m (well clear of Hicham El Guerrouj's 3:26.00). She was not just attempting to go where no woman had gone before. No woman had even considered breaching the four-minute mark. 'Physically it felt really good,' Hunter Bell tells the Independent after practicing in the days before the extravagant event at the Stade Charlety. Hunter Bell was selected, based on height and stride length, to replicate Kipyegon's role in practice alongside the elite men drafted in, including double-Olympic medalist Grant Fisher and Team GB's Elliot Giles. The formation, devised over the last six months in Kenya, shielded Kipyegon from 'turbulence'. 'We were doing 400m reps in 60 seconds per lap pace, but it felt more like 65 seconds for the effort,' she adds. 'So it felt a lot easier than if you were just trying to run a lap on your own. And so it was cool to feel that, I think, also just from kind of an emotional, less tangible standpoint. It felt really nice. 'The guys around you talking about how they can help you out. You just feel really supported. And it really made me think that, yeah, she's obviously much better than I am. So if it felt like that for me, then surely it will feel really good for her. It gave me a lot of faith that she could do it.' Hunter Bell and her fellow Nike athletes were tasked with training twice per day since Sunday, with the team spending each day together, including meals, to build chemistry and cohesion to perfectly execute the plan on Thursday. 'I've never seen Faith like struggle,' Hunter Bell recalls. 'Like every time she races us, be that in an Olympic final, the Diamond League, she's always so clearly ahead and although she's obviously working hard, she seems totally within herself and there's no struggle on her face. 'Yesterday was the first time that I've really seen her hurting, a little bit of form going, a little bit of strain on the face. So that really just put into perspective just how hard of a feat it is. 'So I think, in hindsight, it will now be a case of chipping down [the women's mile world record]. It's not going to go from 4:07 to 3:59, it's going to be chipped away over the years like she's already taken a second and a half off. 'Think about Eliud Kipchoge's 1:59 marathon, that had some failures before it, then they got it right. So I think they'll be able to take away some learnings, then just hope that in the future, they'll be able to bring it down.' Hunter Bell is adamant Kipyegon is still the woman to do it, though a move to the 5,000m next year could derail the three-time Olympic champion's plans. But the 31-year-old revealed she is committed to a future attempt. 'I had a quick chat with her afterwards and said, 'do you think you'll have another go this year?' And she was like, 'probably not this year, probably next year'. It might take another five to 10 years to break the four-minute barrier, but I can see it going down by a second every year.' Kipyegon might still be the dominant force in the 1,500m or mile, but Hunter Bell insists her compatriot Beatrice Chebet, a double-Olympic champion in the 5,000m and 10,000m, could attack the barrier too, harnessing her greater strength. 'I actually don't think [the mile favours a runner with a speed background such as Keely Hodgkinson],' Hunter Bell adds. 'I actually think it's more the other way. I think you have to have a really strong endurance base to be able to do a challenge like that. Having a great kick is amazing. Coming through in two minutes is well within Keely's and my capability, but those two laps make such a difference. 'It's getting into the practice of running 60s consistently versus what Keely can do, running 52-53 seconds per lap. That's amazing speed, but you just can't do four of those back to back. There's just no way.' Nike will be determined in the coming months to make refinements, much like they did between Kipchoge's first attack on the two-hour marathon barrier in Monza in 2017, before returning to Vienna two years later, with tens of thousands of fans on the streets able to witness history. 'I think hosting it in a full stadium is a good idea, maybe at the end of a Diamond League as the final event,' Hunter Bell concludes. 'Then you'll definitely have a sold-out stadium, such as London in a couple of weeks, which is sold out at 60,000. Every bit of noise makes a difference. We really saw that in the Paris Olympic final last year. It was so loud and we ran so fast. So I think that could definitely help.'
New York Times
8 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Kenny Bednarek knows what he wants, if he can just relax: ‘Make money, get gold medals and just run fast'
Kenny Bednarek knows you are a product of your environment. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he was adopted at the age of four. 'What made me love track was, as a kid, I didn't have control over my life. I was kind of terrified,' he says. 'Track was something I had control of — the only control I had in my life. Advertisement 'All of the hard work I put in, I would get the outcome. It was where I felt most free, where I had no care in the world. 'As soon as the gun went off, I was just running, having fun.' The 26-year-old is certainly running and having fun now. He has Olympic and World Athletics Championships 200-metre silver medals and this year, won six races at three Grand Slam Track (GST) meets in Kingston, Miami and Philadelphia. Bednarek clocked a wind-assisted 9.79 seconds in the 100m in Miami before running a wind-legal 200m in 19.84s. At Franklin Field in Philadelphia, he closed out the meet with a 100m personal best (PB) at 9.86s, which was also a franchise record. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion Jordan Anthony is the only other American athlete with sub-10s and sub-20s times over 100m and 200m this year. 'My favourite meet was Miami and it was more because I had to prove to people that the first race (Kingston) wasn't a fluke. But I think the Philly 100m was my favourite. I had a poor reaction time — 0.2s — and I still ended up getting to the top guy at 30 to 40 metres. I didn't panic, and I came out with 9.86s.' There are few better habits than winning. 'It's getting addicting,' Bednarek says. 'I'm trying to go on a win streak that will give me gold medals. If I get my three golds, then fast times are going to come. That's the sole focus this year — PBs will come when they come — just medals. I've only got three silver ones, and I'm trying to get some golds.' He wants to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the World Championships in Tokyo this September. Those medals would be the priceless additions to a 2025 haul which has included three six-figure paydays from GST. Since turning professional in 2019, he has been part of Star Athletics, the Miami-based training group under coach Dennis Mitchell. 'It's a tense group,' he says. 'Every day is like a race. That's the main reason I'm at this level.' Advertisement 'I was getting my butt whooped every single time,' he says of the early days, when American sprinter Justin Gatlin, at the end of his career, was part of the group. Kyree King and Sha'Carri Richardson, now top-level American sprinters, joined in 2019, and the group features Olympic relay medallists Aaron Brown (Canada) and Tee Tee Terry (United States). 'Coming down from running 400m and 200m (in college), I didn't have that aggressiveness to get out of the blocks and the mechanics weren't really there. I had more of that wide-open-stride 400m mechanics.' So he worked on his block starts and acceleration phase. 'With the addition of (American sprinter) Christian Coleman, that's been a big game changer this year for me. The dude is the 60m world-record holder — you already know every single time he steps on that line, he's gonna get out (fast).' It is a group where 'iron sharpens iron'. He and Coleman 'use' each other to work on their respective weak spots — the 100m start for Bednarek and the end for Coleman — but they are ultimately team-mates. 'We go to work, have fun, we're hurting together, we're all talking s**t together,' he says. 'It's fun.' You might know Bednarek as the man with the headband, nicknamed 'Kung Fu Kenny'. 'I wanted to have something unique because we're at a point where you got all the Adidas people signed, Nike, Puma — everybody's wearing the same thing.' He has a designer who makes a bespoke headband for him for each race. 'It's just showing respect to the people out there that we're running in front of.' At the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last year, he wore one with 'curve' and 'conqueror' written on either side. A post shared by Kung Fu Kenny (@kenny_bednarek) Bednarek won the 200m in 19.89s that day, when there was a 1-2-3 sweep not just for the U.S., but for Star Athletics, too. Courtney Lindsey was second, and King third. 'I'm not a person that really wants to be like, 'Look at me, I'm him', and stuff like that. I just want to go in and handle business.' Advertisement At no point does he namecheck Noah Lyles here, but the comparison with the U.S. No 1 comes easily. Lyles, an average build for a sprinter at 5ft 11in (180cm), is loud and expressive. He always jumps up high before settling into the blocks. Bednarek, despite being 6ft 2in and physically imposing, is quieter. 'When I get on the line, I always have a bow,' he says. 'I came up with the name Kung Fu Kenny. It ties with my name, and I like kung fu, martial arts, and anime. Kung fu also has a set of values that pertain to me: openness, discipline, respect and dedication.' Bednarek is one of the very few athletes who have beaten Lyles in his specialist event, the 200m, but three global finals in the past four years have seen Bednarek finish second in the 200m. In 2021, he was running in the lane outside Andre De Grasse when the Canadian earned his country's first track gold since 1996 and first 200m gold for nearly a century. Bednarek ran a personal best (19.68) for silver, but De Grasse set a national record (19.62). One year later, Lyles beat him at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, running the fourth-fastest 200m ever (19.31). It was a scintillating defence of his world title, and Lyles became only the third man to retain that crown. Bednarek, in 19.77, was beaten by nearly half a second, finishing closer to seventh than to Lyles. Last summer, Bednarek ran 19.62 in the Olympic final in Paris. He had matched De Grasse's performance from Tokyo and beaten Lyles on the track — the only problem was that Letsile Tebogo ran an African record of 19.46 to take Botswana's first Olympic gold medal. Bednarek reflects on what he describes as a missed opportunity. 'The biggest thing, the difference between getting first place and second place? It's always me tensing up,' he says. Advertisement 'I'm always going to come out of the bend first. That's kind of a given now from the past four years.' He was two-hundredths ahead of Tebogo at the 100m mark in last summer's final. 'I got off the turn, Tebogo was right there next to me, kind of using me as a rabbit. That shocked me, so then I tried to do a little bit too much — I would try to muscle it out — and then I started decelerating. 'That's when he got the edge over me and then he ran his 19.4s. If I ended up sticking to my race plan, I should have won.' It is the age-old sprinting principle that the winner is not the one who can go the fastest but who slows down the least and can hold their form best. 'My coach was trying to get it through my head like, 'Hey, you need to relax'. (I'd say) 'Yeah, yeah, I get it', but then, once the gun went off, I was always like, 'OK, screw it. I'm gonna just try to go'.' None of this is said with even a hint of bitterness. 'He (Tebogo) was also fighting for his mom. She passed away last year. I was happy for him that he got the gold medal. Now he's a big thing in Botswana.' Bednarek speaks with a softness that belies his size and power. His tete-a-tete with Tebogo continued after the Olympics when the pair raced at the Diamond League meets in Zurich and Brussels. Tebogo ran him down in Zurich when Bednarek tied up again. The American was one-tenth clear at halfway, down to two-hundredths at 150m, and Tebogo beat him on the line. The outcome was positive — he lowered his PB to 19.57 — but he wanted even more. Things clicked at the Diamond League finals in Brussels, where he held Tebogo off to win by more than one-tenth of a second — daylight in sprinting terms. 'The only thing I was thinking about coming off the bend is, 'Relax, relax, relax'. 'That's what I've been working on this whole past off-season. There's no reason to try to press when I can just use my (long) levers to my advantage. I fixed the end of my race in the 200m. I improved my start, too, so if I put those things together, nobody's going to beat me.' Bednarek's route to the top was unconventional. He wanted to go to the University of Oregon but his grades were not good enough. 'I was a kid in high school. I would do the bare minimum because I didn't really feel like it was a focal point or it was something important to me,' he says. It meant that, despite clocking 20.43s for 200m and repeatedly going sub-47 seconds over 400m as a high school senior, he had to go to Indian Hills junior college for a year. Advertisement There, he worked harder and ran even faster — 44.73s for 400m and sub-20s twice in the 200m, including a heavily wind-assisted 19.49s. 'That's when the agents started hitting me up. I was like, 'I guess I'm going pro now'.' After winning 16 collegiate races in 2019, he first raced as a pro that June. Bednarek describes his 200m at the Rabat Diamond League and a 400m in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, as ''welcome to the pros, rookie' moments'. He was in good shape from his college season but the elites had started later because that year's World Championships in Doha, Qatar, were not until late September. 'I'm looking at the times and I'm like, 'Oh, I'm about to roll everybody up. They're running slow',' he says. 'I got into the race, started running… and started dying. That's when you see zoom, zoom, zoom (as others run past you).' He came fourth in Morocco and sixth in Ostrava. Despite a hamstring issue, and early signs that his competitive edge can spill into over-exertion, he made his first senior U.S. team for the World Championships. 'I actually didn't want to go. (After nationals) I was like, 'OK, I can finally rest, go home, recover the hamstring'. Then they called me and told me I made the team, so I was, like, 'Damn, I've got to keep going'. 'I went to Doha in the mindset of, 'I'm just here for experience'. I didn't even make it past the first round.' He came seventh out of eight in his 200m heat in 21.5s, his slowest time in that distance all year. He is one of the forgotten men from the 100m final in Paris last August, which was his first individual appearance over that distance at a global championships after running a 9.87s PB at U.S. trials to make the team. Lyles edged out Jamaica's Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths to take gold in the deepest men's 100m Olympic final. Bednarek was the fastest seventh-place ever. Advertisement 'Initially, I was quite upset,' he says, 'but after a few days of thinking about it, there were good things. I didn't have the perfect race or execute the way that I wanted to, but I still ran 9.88 — that says a lot about me. 'If I do that under those circumstances, what can I do when I actually stick to my race plan? I kind of wanted it too badly. I tried to do something that I usually don't do and I tensed up. I had a good start and felt like I didn't.' Sprinting might look flat-out from the start but athletes need to build through the phases. 'When I'm more relaxed, then my top-end speed can kick in and I reel people in, but I didn't do that at all in the final. 'I locked up my whole body. My acceleration phase wasn't where it needed to be going to 50m and 60m. I was green, I was the newbie going into the finals, and it was a learning experience.' He learned, too, from the 4x100m relay, where the U.S. men continued their record of disqualifying, further stretching their Olympic medal drought in the event to at least 24 years (since silver at Athens 2004). 'I don't know what happened. We all felt good about it (before the race). I just made a slight mistake.' Bednarek, on the second leg, took off too early as Coleman led off around the bend. They were disqualified for passing the baton outside the changeover zone. 'The thing that will fix all our problems is just consistency in training,' he says. 'If we say, 'Hey, this is the team, we need to start practising a couple months before', then I think everything will be a lot better.' Bednarek's biggest limitation in recent years has been injuries. He reels off a list including pulled hamstrings and a broken toe. Last year, his season featured 24 races across six months. 'A healthy Kenny is a dangerous Kenny, because with me not dealing with all this little BS, I can put everything together and then I'll be dominant,' he says. Advertisement In 2021, he clocked 10 wind-legal, sub-20s 200m performances, the most by any athlete in a single season. 'That just comes with the recovery factor. I'm always going to do a workout, and excel at it, but to survive at this level, you have to take care of your body.' It is why he eats gluten-free and organic now, and has installed a sauna, cold plunge, red-light therapy and a PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field therapy) machine at home. 'It's a lot of money, but at the end of the day, our body is an investment,' he says. 'Track and field is not forever, so you might as well put the money down, recover and get ready for the next day and try to survive. 'Make money, get gold medals and just run fast.' He can cross 'make money' and 'run fast' off the list this year. Now, for those 'three golds', he just needs to relax.
