It seems as though while Allyson Felix enters the twilight of her career and Usain Bolt puts an end to his, Sydney is steadily on the come up, poised to make noteworthy moments. Bleacher Reports quotes the young phenom as saying “Right now, I’m just getting ready for the 2020 Olympics.” Sydney’s accomplishing her goal by tackling a new event the 100-meter hurdles. Sydney doubt of her being the new face of track and field, as she broke the national high school freshman record at only 14 years old. It was the ninth-fastest time in the U.S. that year.
According to her dad, Willie, a former sprinter who told Bleacher Report that these kinds of performances wasn’t anything new since the Jersey youth track meet when she was six. However Sydney, didn’t win this year. In June At the U.S. championships in Sacramento, the two-time Gatorade National Girls Athlete of the Year ran the fastest 400-meter hurdle race of her career, but came across the finish line in sixth place. Only the top three qualified for the World Championships in London. Sydney hasn’t raced since.
She’s at Kentucky to make sure that she doesn’t fall short again. At UK, Sydney is coached by Edrick Floreal, who, since taking over at Kentucky as the director of track and field in 2012, has led five UK women and one relay team to a combined eight national championships and the UK team to a second-place team finish at the 2015 outdoor NCAA championships. He also coaches various pros, including Harrison and Carter.
His task with Sydney, is taking one of the best high school track athletes in history and making her one of the greatest track and field stars. Floreal is putting Sydney in the 100-meter hurdles this year instead of her specialty, the 400 hurdles. However she won’t be away from the 400 hurdles forever. If she can master the steps and jumps in the 12 to 13 seconds it takes to run the 100, she will be able to improve in the longer sprint, too. Even with having more work to go before she can call herself the best, Sydney could have skipped the UK track team and gone pro last summer.
Going pro isn’t for everyone, though college life isn’t easy either, however it’s more Sydney’s pace. Sydney won’t start working on her hurdle form specifically until December or maybe even January, when the indoor track season begins. Until then, it’s all conditioning.
She seems to be relishing her decision to ditch the pro track life to focus on having fun at UK, with her teammates and without the pressures that come with being a teenage professional runner. It’s what she wished for but Tokyo is the long-term goal.
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