“Kid Is Doing Is Lebron-Esque?- NBC Analyst Compares Erriyon Knighton?s Achievement to Lebron James and Serena Williams

What Erriyon Knighton pulled off at the LSU Invitational is no easy feat. At 18 years old, he clocked the 4th fastest time in history, dangerously close to Usain Bolt’s record. This is also the fastest U20 record. Notably, Erriyon Knighton broke his own U20 World record to set this new bar.?When he finished the race and heard the time from his coach, he himself could not believe it. He knew he ran fast, but he never imagined he would go sub 19.5 at such an early age. In comparison, Bolt was about 23 years of age when he set the World Record for the 20om.

What he did that day is actually quite commendable. However, unfortunately, athletics is not a widely popular sport as compared to NBA or tennis. Therefore, there are many out there who are yet to know about the young sprinters’ achievements.

Knighton’s achievement deserves more credit

Erriyon Knighton was the youngest athlete to take part in an individual track Olympic field final after 125 years. At 17 years old, he put on quite the show and clocked a final time of 19.92. And even though he was disheartened at missing the podium, the fact that he was just 17 years old and already a finalist spoke volumes about him, as an athlete.

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NBC Sports analyst Ato Boldon has revealed that what Erriyon achieved is comparable to the likes of NBA legend LeBron James as well as to Venus Williams and Serena Williams.

?I wish America loved track and field more. Because what this kid is doing is LeBron-esque. It is Venus-esque. It is Serena-esque,” said Boldon. He?also added that Knighton’s achievement is also much more credible; more than Usain Bolt’s 2009 Beijing Olympic victory.??It?s more significant. Because to have this kid, in his opener, nobody around him, he?s not even 18 and a half yet.”

This is mainly because of Knighton’s age. Knighton is yet to get to the prime of his career, where there will be no bounds to what he achieves.

Erriyon Knighton is back in high school after his historic performance

Notably, Erriyon is back to his classes after his phenomenal achievement at the LSU Invitational. He left his earlier passion for football to concentrate on track and field.

He took this decision 2 years ago. At that time, he was already getting offers from SEC schools as a wide receiver. However, he realized that he was more passionate about sprinting and wanted to explore that. He then went on to break Usain Bolt’s U20 record in June 2021, which was just the start of his record-breaking attempts.

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