 Godwin at the 2022 World Athletics Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | July 1, 1999 Covington, Georgia, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 200m, 400m | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Georgia Bulldogs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal bests |
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Medal record
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Elija Godwin (born July 1, 1999) is an American athlete who specializes in the 400 meters. [1]
Godwin is from Covington, Georgia and is 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, looked 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 severe injury during a training session when he was impaled by a javelin while 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 joint 29th 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, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. 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 a retired American track and field athlete who competed 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 eleventh fastest of all time.
Matthew Hudson-Smith is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres and is the 5th fastest athlete of all-time over the distance. In September 2024 he was ranked as the number one 400m runner in the world and has won six British titles, five Diamond League events, two individual European titles, an individual Olympic silver medal, World Championships silver and bronze individual medals and an individual Commonwealth silver medal. He has also won a number of relay titles including an Olympic bronze medal, World Championships bronze medal, two European gold medals, one European silver medal, one European bronze medal and a Commonwealth Games gold medal. Hudson-Smith also holds the European and British 4x400m records (2:55.83) along with the GB Team who ran in the final of the men's 4x400m event in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Vernon Larnard Norwood is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters.
Fredrick Lee Kerley is an American track and field sprinter. He was the Olympic silver medalist over 100 m at the 2020 Olympics and bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in the same event. Kerley has earned an additional six medals at the World Championships, most notably 100m gold at the 2022 edition. He has also medalled in the 400m, 4 x 100m relay, and 4 × 400 m relay and won eleven Diamond League races, including two Diamond League finals - the 400m in 2018 and the 100m in 2021.
Jonathan Sacoor is a Belgian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres.
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.
Alexander Doom is a Belgian sprinter specializing in the 400 metres. In 2024, he became the first male athlete to win the individual 400 metres and 4×400 metres relay at the same World Athletics Indoor Championships He has won several medals in international competitions with the Belgian 4 × 400 metres relay team and holds a personal best of 44.15 over the 400 metres.
Dwight St. Hillaire is an Olympic sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago.
Jonathan Jones is a sprinter from Barbados.
Nicole Yeargin is a British-American athlete representing Great Britain who specialises in the 400 metres. She won major medals as part of British women's and mixed 4 x 400 m relays, including bronzes at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and 2023 World Athletics Championships. She won two bronze medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of both the British mixed and women's 4 x 400 metres relay teams.
Kieran Smith is an American swimmer specializing in freestyle and individual medley events. He currently co-holds short course world records in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay and the 4×100-meter medley relay. He is the Americas record holder in the long course 400-meter freestyle and the American record holder in the 500-yard freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, he won the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships. Following a fourth-place finish in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals in the event at the 2021 World Short Course Championships, 2022 World Aquatics Championships, and the 2022 World Short Course Championships.
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.
Charokee Young is a track and field athlete from Jamaica.
Lewis Davey is a British athlete who competes in the 400 metres.
