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Nedum Onuoha, the 36 year old ex Man City defender and one of the more articulate pundits, ran 11.60 for 100m yesterday at Stretford. He came second in the English Schools Junior Boys 100m in 2001 with 11.09w, aged 14. Any other high flyers from other sports who dabbled in athletics, before making their mark elsewhere.
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Alex Kiwomya, once of the Chelsea Academy and now playing for (checks notes) Stafford Rangers, ran a 10.98 100m as 14 for the then-UK record.Comment
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CB Fry ex world long jump record holder! Best known for cricket but also some football and for not being the king of Albania.
Gary Halpin was a 71m hammer thrower before winning 11 caps for Ireland at rugby.
Any number of sprinters / big throwers in American football. Many proven but loads more who would easily have won international vests or even medals if representing other countries.
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Question linked to this thread topic ... with the FA cup final in the background, Kyle Walker is said to be the 'fastest footballer' in the Premiership, clocked, apparently at 23.3 mph... how does that compare to the top speed of sprinters? how quick would he run a 100m....
[answered my own question, googled to discover Usain Bolt was 27.8 and even DASHER is faster at 24 mph]
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Welsh Rugby Internationals - both wingers I think - JPR Williams & Nigel Walker were fast enough to be Commonwealth 4x100m relay runners.
And lets not get started with American footballers….Comment
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Good calls Grassmarket. Walker was a good enough sprint hurdler to make it to the OG and WC and came 4th in both Commonwealths and Europeans. Still 15th on our all time lists with 13.51 from 1990. Then turned to rugby - wasn’t brilliant, but was fast and won 17 caps for Wales.
Unfortunately I think you’re getting your J Williams mixed up. JJ was the Commonwealth athlete - and father of 400m hurdler Rhys. JPR was a very good tennis player before turning fully to rugby - he won the British junior championship held at Wimbledon but wasn’t Wimbledon junior champion as oft reported.Last edited by Ursus; 03-06-23, 16:09.Comment
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Gareth Bale in his pomp is the only footballer I've seen who I thought had the potential to be a top athlete. 400/800/400h. The Real Madrid doctor who spent his career in elite sport said he was the best physical specimen he'd come acrossComment
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The BBC published a feature a couple of days ago about the schools the boys at Manchester United’s and City’s academies attend. Mentioned Ro-Shaun Williams, now at lower league Doncaster, who as a kid broke 11 seconds and beat a school record that had been held for 25 years by a certain Darren Campbell.
There is a ton of athletic talent in academies, and 99% of them don’t make it anywhere near the top. But they might be able to learn long jump…
Harry Kane, who is incredibly strong but was not blessed with much pace, actually employed a track coach to wring out every last drop of speed he could by learning correct sprint form. Most naturally speedy footballers get by on talent.Last edited by libarun; 03-06-23, 21:05.Comment
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Just having watched Lucy Bronze win her umpteenth champions league, and seeing her once again motor up and down the wing like she can teleport, I am reminded that I've wondered before what her best athletics event would be.Comment
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Just found out that Jim Hines who died yesterday had the unique record of being the only sub 10:00 second sprinter to play in the NFL.Comment
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