Matthew bowling one of the great High School talents in track and field and one of the more successful Collegiate sprinters in the NCAA as he went on to break 10 seconds in the 100 m he broke 20 seconds in the 200 and he also won two indoor titles over the 200 M distance for the past couple of years you have probably seen at least one Matthew bowling video and you've likely seen a few on this channel because well we used to cover him a decent amount but you also might have noticed that we haven't covered any of bowling's performances in quite a long time in fact the last time we analyzed one of his races in great detail was more than 8 months ago when he ran an indoor meeting in the 300 M against Steven Gardner from the Bahamas Now for this competition which took place in South Carolina during the indoor season Gardner finished first in this race over Matthew bowling with a time of 31. 78384 Gardener clashing like this was already quite interesting but we also had Matthew Hudson Smith who finished in third place clearly not having the greatest day but for bowling this was actually a pretty solid showing that ranked him number five in the world over this distance at this point in his season what Drw mini towards bowling's early performances were his dramatic times his versatility on the track and also his ability to jump more than 8 m in the long jump to this day bowling is still one of only two athletes to ever go sub 10 in the 100 sub20 and the 200 and also surpass 8 m in the long jump and the only other athlete to do this was Carl Lewis who is largely regarded as one of the greatest athletes in track and field history bowling's exploits throughout his early years were some of the greatest marks that we had ever seen for a teenage athlete but the question that many have is what exactly has been happening with Matthew bowling for the past couple of seasons and can we expect him to make any world championship or Olympic team in the future well the answer might surprise you because after doing a little digging bowling is still running quite fast and he also had one specific performance this year which was honestly tremendously underrated the main reason bowling has not been making as much noise recently is because he has completely changed his focus in 2024 in previous years he ran many solid times in the 100 and the 200 and these two racing distances were his primary focus points but for 2024 he has shifted his Focus to the 400 met distance here are Matthew bowling's yearly progressions in the 100 200 and the 400 and as you can see he hit his best times in the 1 and two back in 2022 where he ran times of 9. 98 and 19.
9 2 however for the 400 he's running faster than he ever has for 2024 in fact for this season alone he broke 45 seconds three total times for the one laap distance and for his personal record race he achieved this Mark at the very end of the season competing against a very familiar name Quincy Wilson at the 2024 hallay Pro classic which took place in Gainesville Florida Quincy Wilson and Bryce Deadman had a battle all the way to the tape and somehow the 16-year-old Wilson managed to win this race in 4420 and if you want to take a deeper look at this incredible World youth record I'll leave a link down below so you can check this race out in more detail but finishing very close in second was Bryce deadmond in 44. 2 to and finishing in third place with a time of 44. 8 4 was Matthew bowling this time currently ranks bowling as the 36th fastest athlete in the world this season which really shows the incredible depth that is coming from around the world over this racing distance and while this personal record race from Bowling still showcases a lot of room for improvement there was a actually one moment this season a single opportunity the bowling completely went after that is undeniably a bold and impressive race in 2024 at this year's Olympic trials which took place in Eugene Oregon bowling was looking smooth and strong through each and every round for his opening heat he finished second in 44.
94 for his semi-finals race he finished in third at 44. 9 one and then came the finals a race where only the world's best have any chance at making this team in fact for this one final alone we had a previous world champion and the eventual Olympic champion competing in this event plus various other athletes who have personal records well under 44. 5 so to put it simply you had to be on your absolute aame in order to make this team after a fair start this final got off with a bang and through the opening 100 m bowling was actually in first with a time of 10.
68 seconds this was fast and it might have actually been a little but too quick but we'll get back to that in just a moment because through the 200 met Mark bowling was in second with a time of 20. 9 to this was still flying and it was now only trailing behind Michael Norman who split through 22. 9 now for his third 100 split bowling was still running very strong and he was actually still in second as he hit a time of 32.
3 to which is actually a new personal record for bowling but then came the final 100 and unfortunately bowling simply could not hold his Tempo here because for this final 100 he went from second all the way down to eighth and he only ran a time of 4515 seconds for this Olympic trials final through 300 M bowling was seriously in contention for a spot on this Olympic team but unfortunately his final 100 was the second slowest on the day as he only achieved a 100 split of 12. 83% Quincy Hall and also more than a second slower than Chris Bailey and also Vernon Norwood when it comes to 400 met running you simply have to have a strong close in order to find success on the biggest stages and for this race it unfortunately was not there for Matthew bowling despite not making the team this was certainly a bold effort and from my perspective he probably would not have quite been able to make the team had he achieved perfect pacing on the day but I do think he could have cut off a decent amount of time for this final had he run a more balanced effort for this one laap distance now this challenge of putting together a full 400 is certainly not easy in fact it's a big obstacle for many and it's certainly an obstacle for bowling who for years has been struggling over the final 100 of a 400 met race but he is still improving because if we go back to 2017 we can see that he has been cutting more and more time off of his open 400 every single season and at 44. 8 4 he is still getting closer to what is required to compete at the highest levels the question now for bowling is can he put together a full 400 and reach that Elite Fitness in order to find success we've already seen him be a part of various relay events in the world championships in 2023 as he was a part of the mixed relay gold medal in Budapest and he also ran a solid leg in the qualifying round in the 2023 mins 4x4 achieving a second leg split of 44.
