Michael Norman played a pivotal role in clinching gold for Team USA in the men's 4x400 relay at Tokyo Olympics 2020.
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Michael Norman, the reigning 400m champion, has chosen to sit out the upcoming world track and field championships, which will kick off this Saturday. He shared his decision on his social media platforms by stating, “After an extremely frustrating season, I’ve chosen to take a break from the track for the rest of 2023 to realign my focus on the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Earlier this year, at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships 2023 on July 6, Michael Norman finished eighth in the initial 100m heat and failed to qualify. Following this race, he voiced the numerous challenges he had to face throughout the season, including battling tendonitis. Another significant change for Norman this year was transitioning from coach Quincy Watts to John Smith in May, who previously guided Watts to a 400m Olympic gold in 1992.
To the questions on July 6 when he was asked about him defending his 400m world title, Norman hinted at, “We’ll see.” At the start of the year, he had expressed intentions of transitioning from the 400m to the 100m. However, he also mentioned that he might reconsider and participate in the 400m if things didn’t go well in the shorter distance.
Michael Norman played a pivotal role in clinching gold for Team USA in the men’s 4×400 relay at Tokyo Olympics 2020. He was part of the winning 4x400m relay team in the previous year’s World Championships (2022) held in Eugene, Oregon, and held the title of the 2019 Diamond League champion. Furthermore, he clinched gold twice at the World Junior Championships in 2016.
The 27-year-old Steven Gardiner from the Bahamas holds the title for the fastest 400m this season. Although Gardiner, the 2019 World champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, had to miss the previous year’s worlds due to a tendon injury, other prominent contenders in the race include the Olympic and World record holder Wayde van Niekerk, the 2011 Worlds and 2012 Olympics champion Kirani James, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion Muzala Samukonga.
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