The University of Tennessee has a new record-breaker on campus, and that athlete is none other than track star Christian Coleman.
If you don’t know who Coleman is at this point, you’ve been missing out on one of the best athletes at Tennessee right now. Coleman recently won two SEC championships in the 100-meter and 200-meter runs, and he is also a national champion in the 60-meter and 200-meter as of this year as well.
But it’s what Coleman did on Wednesday night that’s grabbing national attention now.
Coleman broke an NCAA record on Wednesday by running the 100-meters in 9.82 seconds. The previous record was 9.89 seconds. And his record-breaking run came in a semifinal, not even in a final run.
9️⃣.8️⃣2️⃣ SECONDS! @__coleman just set a COLLEGIATE RECORD!
Ninth-fastest time in world history and fourth-fastest ever by an American! pic.twitter.com/KmrJIcIwQB
— UT Track & Field/XC (@Vol_Track) June 8, 2017
Not only did Coleman smash a record, but his time for the 100-meter is one of the fastest times in the entire world.
.@__coleman‘s time of 9.82 seconds is tied for ninth in the world all-time pic.twitter.com/VeAMGZTpbu
— Tennessee Stats (@Vol_Stats) June 8, 2017
For reference, Coleman ran faster than Justin Gatlin, a Vol track star who would go on to win an Olympic gold medal, ever did while at Tennessee. He’s also only .08 seconds away from Gatlin’s fastest ever run in the 100-meter.
Coleman is just a junior for Tennessee’s track and field program, meaning he’ll still be around and making headlines for another year after this one. He’s quickly turned into a track and field star, and he could have a few more records to his name before his time is up at Tennessee.
