Matthew Boling, the Texan who ran the fastest all-conditions 100m in high school history, plans to compete in next month’s USATF U20 Outdoor Championships and, should he make the national team, the Pan American U20 Championships in July, his coach said Tuesday.
Boling does not plan to compete in the senior USATF Outdoor Championships, which are one week after the Pan American U20 Championships.
“That’s a place where he can go and be successful, not be thrown to the wolves,” Houston Strake Jesuit coach Chad Collier said of U20 competition versus senior nationals. “He has an opportunity to get on the [medal] stand in several events, then get a chance to go to the University of Georgia, be a freshman, be a college student.”
The USATF U20 Outdoor Championships air on USATF.tv+ for subscribers from June 21-23. Boling is on the qualifiers list in the 100m, 200m and long jump.
Boling, who turns 19 on June 20, is eligible to compete at senior nationals. He qualified in the 100m on May 11 by clocking 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).
Boling first garnered internet buzz by running 9.98 on April 27, though that was with a 4.2 meter/second tailwind, more than twice the legal limit (breaking 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 ranks tied for 14th in the U.S. in the 100m this year, according to the IAAF. The top six at senior nationals are likely to make the world championships 4x100m team.
Boling may be a better long jumper. He ranks fifth in the U.S. in that event this season, having leaped 8.01 meters.
Boling also split a 44.75 on a 4x400m relay on May 11, which would rank sixth in the U.S. this year for the individual 400m, though relay splits are faster than times off flat starts.
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