Sprint sensation Erriyon Knighton reveals his surprising future plans: 'I might run the 400m next year'

Erriyon Knighton is a phenomenon. The 19-year-old, who will wrap up his final year as a junior athlete with the Diamond League finals in Eugene on Sunday 17 September, has all the stats to back that assertion up.

And no matter which way you look at them, those numbers are mightily impressive.

Take for instance his times in the 200m. As a junior, there’s nobody who comes close to him - not even the great Jamaican Usain Bolt.

There was a time not so long ago when the world was talking about how this precocious young sprinter had broken Bolt’s Under 20 200m record.

Now a glance at the top of the all-time list just shows a large block containing one name: Knighton’s.

At time of writing, he owns the top 13 Under 20 200m times in history, with Bolt - also considered a prodigy at that age - making his first appearance at just 14th on the list.

So when Olympics.com asked Knighton what the secret to his success was in an exclusive interview at the recent World Athletics Championships in Budapest it was perhaps a surprise that his response was simple: it’s all about the mindset.

“I don’t think it’s a secret,” said the world 200m silver medallist. “I just think it’s going out there and not being scared to run. And especially at a young age, because kids at my age probably get scared of the big lights.

“But sometimes you’ve just got to embrace them and once you do that and you focus on what you’ve got to do, I think you’ll be good.”

A record-breaking sprinter whose star continues to rise

Just focusing on his achievements in the junior age group would pay a huge disservice to Knighton who ranks among the best of all-time in the senior lists as well.

His best time of 19.49 seconds set when he was only 18 makes him the fifth-fastest man to have ever graced the half-lap distance.

So how does it feel to be one of the fastest men in history and the speediest teenager in the world?

“It feels good,” said Knighton, who has had plenty of time to process being number one after setting the world U-18 best of 20.11 seconds in 2021. “I have no complaints about it at all. Last year I was the fastest teenager in the world, and the year before that (2021), so I think it’s good.”

As well as showing an incredible level of consistency – every one of his 13 fastest times have been under 19.90 seconds – there’s something else the young track star has added to his arsenal that bodes well for his terrifically exciting future in the sport: championship medals.

The Florida native became the youngest male to be chosen for a USA track team since 1964 when he competed at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 but was bitterly disappointed to finish fourth.

However, since then, his development has been evident for anyone to see.

Bronze at the Worlds in Oregon in 2022 was followed by a stunning silver this year in Budapest.

“Except for one championships, every time I stepped on the track I earned a medal,” Knighton reflected. “I just want to keep it like that and keep moving on and building from that.”

Erriyon Knighton: “I could go up to the four or I could stay down at the one”

Of course, having built himself from bronze to silver, the next obvious step would be gold.

It seems to stand to reason that an assault on the titles of Noah Lyles, winner of both 200m races at the last two World Championships and the new 100m champion, would be next on the ‘to-do’ list of this prodigious talent.

But Knighton, who is young enough to still see the track world as a blank canvas with a world of possibilities at his disposal, may have other ideas for his future in athletics.

“I can go up to the four [400m] or I can stay down at the one [100m],” he revealed when asked whether he'd concentrate more on the 100m next year. “I can do either or. I feel like if I choose either one, I could be good at both…

“Right now I’m just waiting, I’m not in a rush to do nothing. I’m going to try to run a couple more 100s and I might run probably two 400s next year.”

Knighton’s answer begs the question as to whether he’s started to train for the 400m - a distance that is seen as a completely different challenge to the shorter distance sprints.

“I just do what my coach tells me to do,” was his coy reply. “I don’t know what I’m training for, I just know I’m training to be great.”

Erriyon Knighton: “You’ve still got to train like you’re not one of the best in the world”

While Knighton is certain that he is destined for greatness (he even stated that if a movie were made about his life it would be titled Greatness), he is in many ways a humble man who doesn’t court the limelight in the way many others are tempted to do.

When asked what he felt he could take from the career of Bolt - the greatest sprinter of all time, Knighton's answer was revealing. 

"Really just staying consistent and staying grounded," he said. "And just staying humble, that's the main three things you can do."

But it’s fascinating to hear just what this "chill guy" feels when he goes out to race with thousands in the crowd cheering and shouting his name, as was the case at the Budapest Worlds.

How do you keep your composure - even at such a young age - when the frenzy inside a stadium creates a boiling pressure pot before the starting gun has even fired?

“When I was walking up it’s like my legs just went numb, I couldn’t even feel them,” he said of the moments leading up to his World Championship 200m final. “So I’m like, ‘what’s going on?’

“But as soon as I got on the line, the feeling went away. I feel it’s like that every time I get on track. My legs, they just feel numb until right when I get on the line and it’s like everything just goes away.”

Yes, he is extraordinarily fast, and yes he is technically strong, but that ability to focus when it matters most could be Knighton’s biggest strength - perhaps only matched by his attitude to sport.

He may have achieved so much at such a young age, but this is a teenager with aspirations to reach goals that will cement his greatness in the sport he loves.

And the only way he sees he can do that is by keeping his fast feet firmly on the ground.

“You’ve still got people in the sport that are just as good as me and anybody can get a medal at any time,” he said, his humility shining through as he looked at what he needs to do to turn those record-breaking junior performances into senior championship golds.

“So you’ve still got to train like you’re not one of the best in the world.”