With the NFL Draft Combine taking place this week, Robert Griffin III has put out a challenge to 60m world record holder Christian Coleman. $100,000 if Coleman can manage to break 4.0 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
Christian Coleman recently ran 6.41 seconds to win the 60m dash world championship. He took the title over 100m and 200m world champion, Noah Lyles. However, that time is a little short of Coleman’s 6.34-second world record.
When Coleman was still an athlete at Tennessee, he ran a 4.12-second 40-yard dash. Since then, he’s only gotten faster. Coming off his world championship, he might be looking forward to pocketing $100k of RGIII’s money.
The NFL analyst offered up the bet last night and today the track and field star accepted it.
Getting up to top speed isn’t an issue for Christian Coleman. His reaction time and first 30 meters are elite even among the top sprinters in the world. He’s strong, explosive, and he should feel pretty confident about breaking the 4 second barrier.
The former Tennessee Volunteer did serve a suspension between June 2020 and May 2022. He was unable to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, since coming back from his suspension, Coleman has won a Diamond League championship and two world titles. His 60m dash championship from this week and the 4x100m championship from Budapest last year.
RGIII offers Christian Coleman chance to put track in the spotlight
Comparing athletes across sports is often tiring and silly. However, there will always be an eternal debate between football speed and track speed. No matter what we do it will always exist.
That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it. RGIII is a former world-class track athlete himself. He had a real choice between pursuing football or remaining a hurdler. This writer remembers being in high school and wondering which sport the talented athlete would choose after college.
Clearly, if he’s able to offer up $100k to Christian Coleman on a friendly wager, he chose the right sport. But now as an on-air personality, RGIII uses his platform to elevate the sport of track and field.
Christian Coleman has a chance to show what pure speed really looks like. A large portion of America has a reference for what a 40-yard dash time is. The NFL Combine record is 4.22 seconds. Xavier Worthy just tied that record this weekend during his 40s.
Seeing someone in Combine conditions break 4.0 seconds would open some eyes to how talented and fast athletes like Coleman and Lyles are. This could be a really cool opportunity for Coleman and the sport.
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