 Elija Godwin at Oregon 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | July 1, 1999 Covington, Georgia, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 200m, 400m | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Georgia Bulldogs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Elija Godwin (born July 1, 1999) is an American athlete who specialises in the 400 metres. [1]
From Covington, Georgia and a student at the University of Georgia. Initially, Godwin only ran on the track to condition himself for football. Then, once he began to train more seriously he would run mostly 100m and 200m. This was until his coach Kevin Barnes looking at his split times and suggested he run an open 400m race. Godwin ran 47.40 for the 400m at his first race. [2]
On May 7, 2019, Godwin suffered a serious injury during a training session when he was impaled by a javelin whilst running backward sprints at Georgia track and field practice, prior to the 2019 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. [3] The accident left Godwin with wounds to his back and shoulder and collapsed his left lung. Emergency services attended to him and ground off part of the javelin before he was taken to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Centre, where the rest of it was removed by surgeons. [4]
On May 15, 2021 he ran a personal best 44.61 at the Cushing stadium in Texas at the SEC Outdoor Championships to meet the Olympic qualifying standard. [5] At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon he finished fourth in his heat in a time of 46.18. [6]
He qualified for the final of the USA men’s Olympic Trials 400m race, running 44.81 and 45.10 in the heats. [7] In the final he placed sixth and qualified for US men’s relay pool for the 4x400m at the 2020 Summer Games. [8] At the Olympics he won a Bronze medal as part of the American Mixed 4 × 400 metres relay team. [9] [10]
Indoors, Godwin finished 7th in his heat of the 400m at the SEC Championships and did not make the final, but returned to anchor the University of Georgia's 4x400m team with a winning 44.95 leg. [11] At the NCAA Indoor Championships, he finished 4th in his heat of the 400m and anchored Georgia to 4th in the 4x400m final. [12] Outdoors, Godwin was the runner-up at the SEC Championship meet in 44.81, behind Champion Allison of Florida who ran 44.74. [13] At the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Godwin placed 3rd in a personal-best 44.50 behind Allison (44.41) and defending champion Randolph Ross (44.13) of North Carolina A&T. [14] Competing for the United States at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon Godwin won bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay and then gold in the men’s 4x400m relay, completing the first leg in a team also consisting of Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Champion Allison. [15]
His mother, Ginger Luby, was working her job as an administrator in a doctor’s office when she received the call that Elija had been injured by the javelin in 2019. [16] Godwin has one brother, Okon Godwin and a sister, Kyaundra Ward. He graduated from Newton High School in Covington, Georgia in 2018. Godwin received special recognition from Covington’s city council by way of a proclamation that made 10 September 2022 “Elija Godwin” day. [17]
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and race in separate lanes for the entire course. In many countries, athletes previously competed in the 440-yard dash (402.336 m)—which is a quarter of a mile and was referred to as the 'quarter-mile'—instead of the 400 m (437.445 yards), though this distance is now obsolete.
Angelo F. Taylor is an American track and field athlete, winner of 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics. His personal record for the hurdles event is 47.25 seconds. His time puts him in a tie with Félix Sánchez for the #14 performer of all time. Sánchez also won two Olympic gold medals, in 2004 between Taylor's two golds and 2012, immediately following. Taylor also has a 400-meter dash best of 44.05 seconds, ranking him as the #25 performer of all time, superior to any other athlete who has made a serious effort in the 400 metres hurdles. He won the bronze medal in the 400 m at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Andrew Rock is an American sprinter who specializes in the 400 meter dash.
LaShawn Merritt is an American track and field athlete who competes in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He is a former Olympic champion over the distance and his personal best of 43.65 seconds makes him the ninth fastest of all time.
Arman "Gino" Hall is an American sprinter specializing in the 400m. He is a World and Olympic gold medalist as a member of USA's 2014 and 2016 4 × 400 m relay teams.
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Michael Arthur Norman Jr. is an American sprinter. He previously held the world best time in the indoor 400 meters at 44.52 seconds. Outdoors, his 43.45, set at the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays is tied as the #4 on the all time list. In 2016, he became the world junior champion in both the 200 meters and 4×100 meter relay. In 2022, he became the world champion in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay.
Fredrick Lee Kerley is an American professional track and field sprinter who started his career competing in the 400 meters until 2020, when he transitioned to the 100 meters and 200 meters. He has earned several medals at the World Championships in the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay including an individual bronze and a relay gold at the 2019 edition. Kerley claimed 100 m gold in the 2022 edition.
Rai Benjamin is an American professional hurdler and sprinter specializing in the 400 m and 400 m hurdles. He is the second fastest man in history in the 400 m hurdles with a personal best time of 46.17 s. Benjamin won silver medals at his first Olympic Games in 2021 and at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022 in the men's 400 m hurdles, and gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay in 2019 and 2021.
Kahmari Montgomery is an American track and field sprinter specializing in the 400 m for Nike. He was the men's 400 m champion at the USA Championships in 2018, and at the NCAA Division I Championships in 2019. He represented the United States in the 4 × 400 m relay at the World U20 Championships in 2016 and at the inaugural Athletics World Cup in 2018, earning gold medals in both competitions.
Matthew Boling is an American track and field athlete specializing in the sprints and long jump. He won four gold medals at the 2019 Pan American U20 Championships in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m relay and 4 × 400 m relay, and helped set world under-20 records in both of the relay races for the United States. He also ran in the semi-final for the American 4 × 400 m relay team at the 2018 World U20 Championships that went on to earn silver in the final. Boling would later go on to win a gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in the mixed 4 x 400 m relay, and would help set a world record for the event in the process.
Dwight St. Hillaire is an Olympic sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago.
Bryce Deadmon is an American track and field athlete. In July 2023, he became US national champion in the 400 meters.
Trevor Bassitt is an American track and field athlete.
Talitha LaNae Clark Diggs is an American track and field sprinter specializing in the 400 meters. Diggs won the 2022 U.S. national 400 m title.
Charokee Young is a track and field athlete from Jamaica.
Christopher Bailey is an American track and field athlete. He has won medals in the Athletics World Championships and World Athletics Indoors Championships in the 4x400 metres relay.
Quincy Hall is an American track and field athlete who competes over 400 metres and 400m hurdles.
