The next Usain Bolt? Erriyon Knighton isn’t scared by comparisons and expectations

Erriyon Knighton reacts after running the 200-meter semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics. Because I damn sure don’t get scared.” The sky-high expectations, the comparisons to Usain Bolt — Knighton isn’t running from any of it as the U.S. track and field championships begin this week at Eugene’s Hayward Field, where Knighton can secure berths in July’s world outdoor championships by finishing in the top three in the 100 or 200 meters. “If you look back at him going through the Olympic trials last year, you’ll see it’s almost like yeah, I respect Noah and these other guys who have the names but I don’t have to beat them, they have to beat me.” Knighton’s literal burst onto track and field’s scene has put him, in some ways, into a different race — a two-man contest against the year-by-year progression of Bolt, the sport’s eight-time Olympic gold standard-bearer for speed, who himself was a tall, teenage prodigy. “Obviously it’s cool to get compared to one of the — I was gonna say one of the greatest, I mean the best ever,” Knighton said. At the end of the day I’m not him, my name ain’t Usain Bolt, I’m Erriyon Knighton and I’m just paving the way every day for myself and trying to make my own name.” How Knighton made his name would seem to flout every rule of a youth sports industrial complex that attempts to mold future stars by offering regimented training and travel teams for the elementary school crowd.