Since the retirement of Usain Bolt, the world of sprinting has been blown wide open. An increasingly professionalised area of the sport, nurturing some of the best athletes in the world, has been the American Collegiate system. Numerous American students competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games last year, and it seems that even more will be competing in Oregon for the World Championships later this year.
Stealing the headlines so far this year, American students are topping the world rankings week-on-week, and here are three standout athletes that could make real waves in the sprinting world this season.
Benjamin Azamati
Benjamin Azamati is a Ghanian sprinter currently studying at Texas A&M. He was one of the student-athletes to make it to Tokyo 2020, but has really started to establish himself among the big names in the sport. He currently tops the World Rankings with a blistering 9.90 clocking at last month’s Texas Relays.
Being the fastest man so far this year is already an incredible feat in itself, but I think Azamati could easily go faster this year, and later in his career. At 22, he is still maturing and improving in the sport, meaning that 9.90 seconds is unlikely to be his ceiling this year. The NCAA schedule is packed with racing, so I would be very surprised if we didn’t see Azamati throw down an insane clocking in the near future before the World Championships in Oregon.
Matthew Boling
Azamati will almost definitely have to run faster to stay on top of the World Rankings, and Matthew Boling is a student sprinter that could challenge his spot. A star in high-school, the current University of Georgia athlete has already established himself as a huge name in the world of athletics.
His performances last year showed that he was somewhat of a work in progress. Expected to tear up the college scene, his performances seemed to be overshadowed by athletes like Terrence Laird and Joseph Fahnbulleh. However, he seems to have worked hard on making his starts more efficient, and it is already paying off in 2022. He is currently the fifth fastest this year in the 100m with a 10.03 second clocking. This is already faster than his best time last year, and I think he has a lot more to give in both the 100m and 200m.
It may be a bold prediction to say that he will make the American squad for the World Championships, but I think he could even take home a medal from the competition if he continues to improve through the season.
Toby Makoyawo
Toby Makoyawo is arguably the most exciting British talent in the sprinting scene. Currently competing for Boston University, Makoyawo is proving himself as one of the best athletes in the NCAA system at the moment.
Unofficially, he is the joint fastest man in the world this year alongside Benjamin Azamati. His 9.90 second clocking was run with an illegal tailwind of +4.6, but running under ten seconds for the 100 metres under any conditions is a sign that he is on top of his game. He ran this time just a day after Azamati’s race, and ran it at the same track. The nature of wind measurements in athletics means that a gusty wind can be legal for one race and illegal for the next, meaning that Makoyawo’s time could be closer to Azamati than it seems.
Either way, Makoyawo is certainly an athlete to keep an eye on throughout the season, as he could be one of the fastest sprinters going into Oregon later this year.