An exceptional athlete.
That’s the United States Devon Allen is.
Recognizing to be a passionate poker player, Allen has now put his bet on the table as perhaps the most potential World Championship medalist in the men’s quick fencing at the Eugene World Championships.
In early June, Allen loaded the top of the men’s 110-meter fencing season at the New York GP. Allen stopped the clocks at a wild time of 12.84. At the same time, the result was the third best ever in the world and was only four hundredths of the time of Allen’s compatriot. Aries Merrittin from the world record ten years ago.
On top of all that, Allen had been ill with a corona less than two weeks before his record run.
– For some reason that day I thought I could break a world record. We still have to hone a few things and wait for the next run, Allen annoyed NBC Sports.
A 27-year-old multi-talent from Phoenix is a specialist in two sports. In addition to the fencing, Allen will also be playing American football at the highest league in the NFL in the ranks of the Philadelphia Eagles next season.
In June, Allen opened NBC Sports (switch to another service) in an interview about their future plans. The man said that in addition to the World Hurdles Championship and the ME, he is also aiming for the coveted championship of American football.
Because of the shockingly tough goals, Allen has a lot on her plate. How does he do all this?
Outside the comfort zone
Allen began his studies and sports career at the University of Oregon in 2014 primarily as a player in American football. Allen helped the Oregon Ducks team championship in his first year.
At the end of the Yankee football season, Allen, who had previously run junior-sized fences, was excited to try his spurs at the university as well. At U.S. universities, the season of American football coincides with the fall and the spring of athletics, so Allen was able to compete in both.
Allen wanted to run real to originally develop better in his main sport in American football.
– In both sports, training is guided by the goal of being as fast and explosive as possible. Football is accelerating at full speed by 10 to 15 meters, which is about the same distance as the first fence on the track, Allen explained on NBC.
In 2014, Allen’s 19-year-old athletic career began sensationally when Allen won the U.S. championship in the 110-meter hurdles in 13.16. The listing was the third fastest in the world at the time.
What made the performance incredible was the fact that Allen had only been practicing running with adults for only a couple of months.
Sport reported on the matter eight years ago. At that time, the story was written by one of the spearheads of the Finnish hurdles Annimari Korte.
From Yankee football injuries to the Olympic dream
American football is a tough sport. Allen is a winger wide receiver, whose main task is to accelerate towards the opponent’s goal and grab the ball thrown by the quarterback.
After being caught, there are defense players in front of the winger who tackle the striker as hard as they can ever. Needless to say, there are injuries – and a lot.
In American football, Allen suffered from a rupture of the knee ligament ACL twice during his college years.
The first knee injury suffered in 2015 ruined Allen’s Yankee football season, but the man recovered in time for the 2016 athletics season. Allen won the 110-meter true U.S. championship and Olympic qualifiers at a peak time of 13.03. At the Rio Olympics, however, Allen failed to keep up and finished fifth with a time of 13.31.
After living the Olympic dream, Allen returned to the University of Oregon to prepare for the fall Yankee football season, also hopes for a professional league NFL booking event next spring.
At this point, Allen was already an international athletics name for his university skies. Coordinating the two sports, for example, meant that Allen was unable to sign contracts for athletics and make money by running. With that, Allen would have had to say goodbye to college football.
The temptation to return to American football, despite the success of athletics, was strongly associated with team sports team spirit. According to Allen, the same cannot be experienced in athletics.
– I loved my university teammates and wanted to play with them for as long as possible. It was a decisive factor for me to return to American football, Allen said.
However, Allen once again got to experience the physicality of American football. In the third game of the season, the young athlete’s knee failed to repeat and the season was in the package along with it.
Frustrated, Allen decided to pause American football and focus fully on athletics.
Disappointed in Tokyo and return to his Yankee run
In his final year at university, Allen relinquished his NCAA eligibility and became a professional. He began preparing fully for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Before Tokyo, Allen won the U.S. championship in 2018 for the third time in his career. Otherwise, however, Allen’s earnings performance did not pick up the wind as expected. The fast-hitter was just 4th in the final of the 110-meter fencing in Tokyo with a time of 13.14, just four-hundredths of the time in Jamaica. Ronald Levyn from the bronze won.
In Tokyo, the countryman of Levy was bursting with gold Hansle Parchment (13.04) and silver in the United States Grant Holloway (13.09).
Disappointed, Allen received balm on his wounds a month later when the lureman took the win in Zagreb in mid-September by firing a time of 12.99. The result was the second best last season, entitling Allen to join a rare club of runners below the 13-second limit.
Despite peak times for the rest of the season, Allen decided to give American football another chance after a long break.
– I always had plans to sign the NFL. When I suffered another knee injury in 2016 that ruined the football season, I decided to focus fully on the next Olympics and watch after them, Allen exposed on NBC.
Allen enrolled in an NFL recruitment event in Oregon early in the year. In tests, Allen’s exceptional speed of 40 yards (about 37 meters) smooth caught the attention of talent scouts. Allen was invited to the Philadelphia Eagles Training Center in early April to give additional screenings, and the next day Allen signed a three-year newcomer contract with the team.
– It took five years, but we’re here, Allen laughed on NBC.
– I now have the opportunity to play good football and help my team win. It’s been a while since I last played. I hope it all comes to mind a bit like riding a bike.
Practicing two different sports is reminiscent of each other
Allen’s speed, explosiveness, and effort from the race track are beneficial in American football. In the end, Allen thinks that practicing two completely different sports is quite similar.
– In American football, my strength as a winger is based on my speed, which also works well on the running track. However, both species use slightly different muscles, Allen described the difference between the species In the Statesman Journal (go to another service).
“I’m trying to balance both of them, but I need to be really aware of recovery, sleep, diet, and everything else like that,” Allen continued.
Allen has spent a lot of time in Philadelphia since the early summer studying his new team’s playbook and driving in new sport drills.
While both Allen sports support each other, the top athletes in the two sports are few today. However, Allen is not the first athlete to combine Yankee oval and athletics.
Only 18-year-old American Erriyon Knighton switched to a fast-paced career in American football and has already risen to the brink Usain Boltin 200 meters world record.
Seattle Seahawks active players winger Marquise Goodwin and DK Metcalf have both excelled in athletics.
Goodwin, who has a successful long jump career, won the 2011 U.S. Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games in the country with a score of 833. In London, however, the man failed miserably, eventually finishing in 10th place.
Metcalf had not practiced running on the track at all before attending one hundred of the U.S. Golden Games last summer. The huge Metcalf clocked 10.37 in its first race and told immediately after (switch to another service) honing their performance and aspiring to the Paris Olympics.
Allen has a home field advantage in Eugene
The World Championships in Athletics will be held from the 15th to the 24th. July in Oregon. Allen has yet to figure his way through the high-profile U.S. championships to secure his place in the World Cup.
At Eugene Hayward Field, who is familiar with college driving, Allen gets to run as one of his pre-favorites. Of the active runners, only Holloway has run faster than Allen (12.81).
After the World Cup, Allen plans to hang the spikes on the pound for a moment. He will leave for the Eagles training camp immediately after the race to pick up a place in the team’s opening lineup.
The season of American football is short, with a playoffs of only five months. The NFL will kick off on September 8, 2022 and the final of the Super Bowl is ahead on February 12, 2023.
If all goes according to plan, Allen plans to play American football in the winter and focus on athletics in the summer.
– Currently, the goal is to prepare for the World Cup, compete in the World Cup, win, break the world record and then head to the Eagles camp, Allen comments To ESPN (switch to another service).
– I know this is not an easy road and it is difficult to be elite in everything. However, the NFL is something I’ve dreamed of all my life and going to the Super Bowl is, of course, the pinnacle of that sport. I’m one of the fastest men in the world, so I need to be able to show it on the field as well.
Allen also hinted that he has yet to contemplate speed with his new teammates in Philadelphia.
– I’m a professional athlete and I told the guys that I don’t compete for free. I can run with them against a $ 10,000 bet, Allen said with a laugh.
No one has yet taken up the challenge.
The U.S. Athletics Championships will be held in Eugene from 23-26. June. On Midsummer weekend, it will be decided who will be able to represent their country at the same stadium for the World Championships in Athletics starting in three weeks.