Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill played his first on-track meeting in nine years on Saturday and while he picked up the win, it looks like he could focus on his NFL career.
The 29-year-old ran a 60-yard time of 6.70 in the 25-29 age division of the USA Track and Field Masters Indoor Championships. The second best time of his run was 7.27.
Time ties Hill with a few other riders for world No. 213 in this year’s event.
After the race, Hill took to Twitter. “Never race again,” he wrote. “I looked wild there.
Nicknamed “Cheetah”, Hill sometimes calls himself “the fastest man alive”. With his reputation for speed, it makes sense that he would expect to run a time closer to his 6.64 record from 2014. Or perhaps he was hoping for an even more competitive time, as pro sprinter Trayvon Bromell is leading the world this season with a 6.42 he ran in February.
Athletics pros weigh in
Masters meets often feature amateur athletes ranging in age from 25 to over 100. At the news of his entry into the event on Friday, the career riders were too fast to react. Marvin Bracy-Williams Jr., 2016 Olympian in the 100m and 200m, joked on Twitter writing “cmon dawg” with laughing emojis. Hill replied, “I know how to stir the pot.”
He ran a 200-meter sprint in 20.14 seconds during his high school career. The automatic qualifying time for the Olympic trials that year was 20.55. Instead, he competed in the World Junior Championships and National Junior Championships. He then competed for Oklahoma State and made the NCAA Indoor Championship Final in the 200 m, finishing fifth.
Hill’s personal best in the 100m is 10.19 seconds. He also ran a wind assisted time of 9.98, which is not valid for official purposes due to a tailwind of 5.0 meters/second.
There’s no question that Hill is quick, but some have pointed to the potential problem with his speed compared to elite track and field. Michael Johnson is a sports legend, having won four Olympic gold medals and 8 world championship gold medals during his career. He later noted that Hill’s performance brought more visibility offshorebut does not necessarily spotlight athletes who sprint professionally.
Hill tweeted in February, challenging anyone to run it. Bromell, the reigning American champion (9.76 sprinter 100m), quickly responded that he would run Hill over 60 yards with the winner taking home $10,000. This race did not take place.
Jasmine Todd, silver medalist at the 2015 World Championships, weighed in the conversation, encouraging Hill to try “calling” the three high schoolers who ran faster than him on Saturday at the New Balance Nationals. Also competing in the long jump, she holds a personal best of 10.92 in the 100m.
In January 2020, Hill said he wanted to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic sprint medalist, called Hill’s chances of qualifying for the trials a “long shot”. Hill did not pursue Olympic competition.
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