BATON ROUGE, LA — Watch the video highlights of Erriyon Knighton running a blistering 19.49 seconds (1.4 m/s) to set a new World U20 record for the 200m and the fourth-fastest time ever.
Knighton recorded his eye-popping time at the 2022 LSU Invitational on Saturday in what was his first appearance in the discipline this season.
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The performance is only ranked behind Usain Bolt’s 19.19 secs world record, Yohan Blake’s 19.26 and Michael Johnson’s 19.32 American record on the all-time world list.
The 18-year-old had already held the previous World U20 record after running 19.84 secs to break Bolt’s 19.93 previous junior mark last season, but not many saw this weekend’s performance coming.
Joseph Fahnbulleh of Florida, the defending NCAA champion, ran 19.92 seconds for second place, with third going to LSU’s Dorian Camel, who ran a time of 20.00 secs.
Another standout performance at the meeting came from LSU’s Favour Ofili, who ran 10.93 seconds (2.0 m/s) on her way to taking down three Olympic and world medalists.
The time which is a new personal best for the teen sprint sensation, is No. 5 on the LSU program all-time list, No. 8 all-time in collegiate history, as well as No. 5 among the African performers.
Ofili is now ranked No. 4 in the world this season for the 100m.
Elite sprinter and World Indoor 60m silver medalist Mikiah Brisco of the Tiger Olympians finished second overall after winning the second heat with a time of 10.98 secs (2.4 m/s), while her training partner Aleia Hobbs ran 11.11 for third overall after getting second place behind Ofili in the first heat.
Jenna Prandini was next in a time of 11.15 with Kevona Davis of Texas also running 11.15 secs (2.4 m/s) but with the help of a slight following wind for fifth overall.
