On the Olympic track, 17-year-old Erriyon Knighton is a sensation. He broke Usain Bolt’s under-18 record in the 200 meters in May and surpassed Bolt’s under-20 record in June, and he beat reigning world champion Noah Lyles, 24, in two races at the Olympic trials. But at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Fla., where we’re both rising seniors, he’s just another student, just Erriyon. They still laugh about the time he almost burned down the house trying to make funnel cake out of pancake batter. “He’s a quiet, normal, regular high school kid,” his friend Nigel Richardson said.

Source: New York Times August 02, 2021 19:41 UTC