The four-time Olympic champion revealed what worries him the most as athletes continue to shatter records indoors.
Four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson has expressed worry about the latest trend in track and field.
Recently, tons of athletes have been breaking indoor records and the American sprint legend believes such a trend takes away the thrill of competition.
He explained that track and field is a very complex sport and winning a competition is not a walk in the park. However, with athletes breaking records in most indoor events, the value of winning is slowly diminishing, something that has cast a lot of worry about the future of the sport.
In a tweet, Michael Johnson explained that winning is what makes an event interesting and now, it seems like people are leaning more into records and world leads, overlooking athletes who strive hard to win races.
He further noted that it is not bad to hype up other milestones but winning should always come first unless otherwise.
“Track is one of the most competitive sports. I fear that and the value of winning are getting lost. Winning in track is really hard, and means a lot to win,” Michael Johnson posted.
“Records and world leads are great too, but they’re secondary to winning. Except for world and sometimes national records.”
At the Millrose Games, Yared Nuguse became the highlight of the event, having broken the mile world record with other performances being overlooked seemingly.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen shattered the mile and 1500m records at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophée EDF and he was also the highlight of the event.
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Quincy Wilson has been making headlines for his record-breaking speed and rising career, while his relationship with Masai Russell’s younger sister adding intrigue to his journey.
Grant Fisher then lowered the 5000m time, taking over from Kenenisa Bekele at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
These are just some of the records broken in less than two weeks and despite it being a great thing in the sport, Michael Johnson believes such trends are erasing the effort some athletes make to just win a race.
