If we don’t specify whatever type of track and field competition we’re referring to, then I believe we can say that everyone possesses track speed.
But what about world-class sprinting ability? Really, that doesn’t happen very often. You are not a track star just because you can outrun your fellow NFL players on a kick return or a defensive back who believes he has an easy pick-6.
The Seattle Seahawks’ Wide Receiver DK Metcalf might Find that Out the Hard Way this Weekend.
This summer, Metcalf will be one of 15 men competing in the 100-meter dash at the USA Track & Field Golden Games, held at the illustrious Mt. San Antonio College track in Southern California.
By posting a short video clip on Instagram and Twitter with the date, “May 9th,” displayed on the screen, he gave his followers an indication as to what he had planned for the weekend. On its Twitter feed, USA Track & Field provided the missing details.
After chasing down Arizona’s Budda Baker last October and stopping what Baker thought would have been an easy touchdown, Metcalf decided to take up track. It was the kind of brilliant play that will haunt Metcalf for years to come.
Just like how now-retired tight end Benjamin Watson’s legacy has always included his miraculous, last-second tackle of Denver’s Champ Bailey to prevent a score in the 2006 playoffs.
It should be made clear that Metcalf’s decision to run on Saturday against some of the world’s finest sprinters, including Mike Rodgers, a part of the 4×100 relay team that won gold at the 2019 World Championships, is awesome.
His presence at the meet is beneficial to track and field regardless of whether he has been training diligently for the past several weeks or just sees it as a fun distraction.
That is Not Intended as Criticism of DK. It is What it is, After All.
Since his senior year at Oxford High in Mississippi in 2016, he hasn’t run in a track meet. Instead of the flat 100, Metcalf specialised in the 110-meter hurdles, where he set a personal record of 14.89 seconds. Impressive time, ranking ninth quickest among California high schoolers that year.
The Olympic Trials are not something you can just decide to try to enter one day. Especially if it’s the morning about two months before the event is scheduled to take place. It’s the same as claiming that two months prior to the 2019 NFL draught, a person who hadn’t played football since high school five years earlier decided they wanted to be a second-round pick like Metcalf.
A wind-legal time of 10.05 seconds in the men’s 100 metres is the minimum requirement required by the USA Track and Field (USATF) for automatic qualification to the Trials. (A tailwind speed of less than 2.0 metres per second is considered legal.) Presently, 15 male Americans have either reached or surpassed that benchmark.
If less than 32 men qualify before the time of the Trials, the remaining berths will go to the next-fastest men. For the 2016 U.S. Trials, you needed a 10.16 or higher.
Last Words
The world will be witness to something genuinely spectacular if Metcalf manages to run in under 11 seconds this weekend.
He’s constructed more like a discus or javelin thrower than a pure sprinter at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, so if he can run that fast, it’ll solidify his reputation as a unique athlete.
Football speed, however, is not the same as Olympic-caliber track pace.
