Matthew Boling‘s best track and field event may be the long jump. The teen phenom sprinter again showed why in an Instagram video posted Friday night, when he bounded over 80 red Solo-like plastic drink cups.
Boling, then a Texas high school senior, became a sensation around this time last year. That’s when he ran the fastest all-conditions 100m in high school history, a 9.98, though that was with a 4.2 meter/second tailwind, more than twice the legal limit.
It broke Rio Olympian Trayvon Bromell‘s record for the fastest 100m by a high schooler regardless of wind reading. The time converted to around a 10.16 in still conditions.
Boling later clocked a a wind-legal 10.13 seconds at his state championships (one of the fastest, but not the fastest time by a U.S. high schooler in history). Then he was off to the University of Georgia.
Boling, in a freshman season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, ranked highest in the indoor 200m -- fourth in the nation. He placed second at the SEC Indoor Championships, but nationals were canceled due to the pandemic.
But last year, Boling’s highest national rank in outdoor events was in the long jump. He leaped 8.01 meters to rank 12th, compared to tied for 13th in the 200m and tied for 18th in the 100m, according to World Athletics. In each list, he was the only man born in the 2000s in the top 20.
Had the Olympics happened this summer, Boling could have tried to become the youngest American male track and field athlete to compete at the Games since 1988. He may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Olympics being postponed by one year, giving him more time to develop.
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