Eugene (dpa) – When Fred Curley clinched the world title by narrowly sprinting over 100 meters and his U.S. teammates also took the silver and bronze, the crowd took off.
The host nation has not won three medals in the most important athletics competition in 31 years, and spectators at Hayward Field in Eugene got their money’s worth on day two of competition at their first world championships in the USA.
great hair
“I felt great,” said Curley, 27, in 9.86 seconds after his success. “It’s great to be able to do this on home soil with the support of the home fans.” Most of them will probably only now recognize his remarkable story through the title.
People were instantly happy with the result and prospects for the remaining races. With silver for Marvin Brassey and bronze for Trayvon Brommel, both timed at 9.88 seconds, and former world champion Christian Coleman as the fourth American in the final, the team’s confidence in the 4x100m relay is also great. And despite the blunders of the American Quartet in recent years: “We will not be defeated by anyone. We have put in the work and we will achieve great things in the days ahead,” Kerley predicted.
He did it himself, no matter how many medals he would win at the inaugural World Championships on US soil. Because Curley grew up in circumstances often described as “difficult” on the outside: with his aunt Virginia, who is called Mimi, because the father went to prison and the mother went down the wrong path, he wrote in a self-reported article a few years ago.
13 kids share the same room
A total of 13 children shared a room in a small town in central Texas. “At the end of the day, it was just like any other house: We wanted to have fun and have a good time,” he said. The script, published three years ago, shows how amazing his path is. In it he describes that all the failed states of existence in his immediate environment were the impulse to make something better out of his life: “Difference was my attitude.”
Thanks to this, he now holds the unofficial title of the fastest man in the world, at least until the world championships in one year in Budapest. And because he only switched from 400 meters to a short distance in the run-up to last year’s Tokyo Olympics, his potential doesn’t seem to be exhausted yet.
However, it is doubtful whether he will be able to fill in Usain Bolt’s big footsteps, as every world champion is inevitably placed in the 100m. Because Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds from the 2009 world championships in Berlin and Jamaica’s characteristics as an artist and star on the athletics scene seem out of reach for a taciturn Curley.
big frame screw
“Usain Bolt can be a role model for all of us,” Curley said. “He has done an amazing job. We all want to be on the podium and reach his level.” “He did something that not many people have: world records over 100 and 200. I feel like we all want to be at his level.”
But his story can also be used as inspiration, the self-confident athlete has no doubt about it: “Everyone is a role model for someone else, and my evolution toward a sponsorship deal with Nike and a podium finish shows to kids who look at me: When I can do it, You can too.”
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