Erriyon Knighton put everyone on notice on Friday.
The Tampa Hillsborough High School sophomore, 16, secured a new sophomore national record and 16-year-old age group record with his blistering wind-legal and US No. 1 time of 20.33 seconds (+0.3) for 200 meters at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.
Knighton absolutely shattered the previous Games' age 15-16 age group record of 20.62 seconds, which was last accomplished by MGX's Tyrese Cooper in 2016.
But the performance went ever further than that.
Knighton's effort also surpased the sophomore class record of 20.51, also accomplished by Cooper in 2017, and more impressively, the 16-year-old age group record of 20.37, which had stood since 2001 and was produced by Texas athlete DaBryan Blanton.
Boys 15-16 200m Championship Final Results
Finals
1 Erriyon Knighton 04 Riverview, FL 20.33N 0.3
2 Isaiah Davis 04 Auburn, WA 21.68 0.3
3 Kevar Williams 04 Deland, FL 21.72 0.3
4 Kai Graves-Blanks 04 Rancho Cucamonga, C 22.05 0.3
5 James Rogers 04 Hollywood, FL 22.20 0.3
6 Christian Parker 04 High Point, NC 22.36 0.3
7 Judson Lincoln, IV 04 Columbia, MD 22.63 0.3
Knighton's time was 0.20 seconds away from the World U18 record of 20.13, which was set by Usain Bolt in 2013. Bolt also owns the world age group record for 16-year-olds with the same performance.
Knighton himself accomplished an incredible feat, chopping off 0.56 seconds from his personal best of 20.89 seconds in July. The sub-21 performance was only the second time he had eclipsed that barried in his career, and it came exactly a year after his first AAU Junior Olympic Games title in 2019, when he ran a then-personal best of 21.15 seconds.
Knighton only began competing in track and field a year ago as a freshman, giving up football in favor of the oval, where he has since lowered his 100m time to 10.4.
Knighton will run in the 100m finals on Saturday.
You can watch his preliminary 100m below:
