Christian Coleman Explains Why He Won’t Race NFL Players for Bragging Rights

Christian Coleman

Christian Coleman Explains Why He Won’t Race NFL Players for Bragging Rights

Abigael Wafula 01:40 - 01.05.2025

Christian Coleman has revealed why he always distances himself from NFL Players vs. Sprinters conversations.

Christian Coleman was once the talk of the town after clocking 4.12 seconds, his fastest 40-yard dash on May 1, 2017, during his time at the University of Tennessee.

He went on to compete at the NFL Combine in the same year, where he clocked 4.12 seconds, but now, he distances himself from conversations around sprinters and NFL players.

Christian Coleman explained that he is not focused on how fast he can compete over the short distance and had not thought about the time he split when in college.

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However, the 2019 world champion added that he would be interested to see what he can achieve at the moment, almost eight years after his fastest time.

“I don’t know about that because I haven’t really thought too much about it in a while, like you said, it was about six or seven years ago,” Christian Coleman said in an interview ahead of the Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen.

“I would be pretty interested to see what I can run now. I don’t know, I just don’t like paying much attention to the track vs football speed and competition thing.”

Why Christian Coleman distances himself from the NFL players vs sprinters

Christian Coleman
Christian Coleman. Photo. Imago

The American sprint king revealed that, unlike Noah Lyles, he prefers staying mum when sprinters and NFL players have conversations on who is fast.

Christian Coleman revealed that he finds some comments disrespectful, noting that sprinters and NFL players are built differently and when he hears some claims, he feels like they are downplaying track and field.

Christian Coleman added that sometimes the banter is great, but he prefers distancing himself from the conversations.

“All of us up here know that it’s a no-brainer type of thing because we work on our craft every day to try and get from point A to B,” Coleman revealed.

“I take it as a little bit of disrespect when they (NFL players) say they can do some of the things we can do because we don’t say that. It is fun banter going back and forth sometimes.”

Noah Lyles is different, as he always addresses NFL players and bloggers who go after him. The reigning Olympic 100m champion was involved in an online debate with Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill on who is faster.

Tyreek Hill then challenged Noah Lyles to a race, and they are scheduled to compete against each other in a head-to-head competition. The race is expected to take place sometime in the spring or summer.

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