By Nate Mann
SAN MATEO, Calif. — The last time Michael Norman lost a 400-meter race was at the U.S. outdoor championships in 2017. He finished in seventh place, 0.77 seconds behind the winner, Fred Kerley of Texas A&M. Kerley had also defeated Norman two weeks prior at the NCAA championships—by 0.78 seconds.
“I haven’t raced him since he thrashed me my freshman year in college,” said Norman, who will face Kerley in the 400 Sunday at the 2019 Prefontaine Classic.
Since his consecutive losses, Norman has developed into one of the fastest runners in a young and rising class of U.S. sprinters. He has won his past eight races handily, by an average margin of 0.82 seconds.
In high school, Norman never finished lower than second place in the 200 or 400 at the CIF California State Meet. As a sophomore, he finished runner-up in both events. The following two seasons, he won and set the state meet record for both events.
The success extended to college as he attended USC in 2017. He won the 400 at the Pac-12 championships but finished fourth at the NCAA championships; Kerley won that race.
His improvement continued into his second and final year of collegiate competition. He defended his 400-meter title at the Pac-12 championships and added a 200-meter title. Then, at NCAAs, he won the 400 in a remarkable time of 43.61 seconds, a Hayward Field and collegiate record.
Norman elected to go pro following his second season at USC and signed with Nike. He continues to train with his college coaches, Quincy Watts and Caryl Smith Gilbert.
“She told me that she wants to get me to achieve my dreams,” said Norman. “She told me she wasn’t going to let the college rounds and college running bring me down. She’s only going to build me and stick to her work. And she really did.”
Norman has won all four of his professional races in 2019. He ran his first, a 400 at Mt. SAC Relays in April, in a time of 43.45 seconds, the sixth fastest 400 in history. The time surprised Norman but didn’t alter his season’s trajectory.
“I don’t have a time expectation, but I do have a standard that I want in terms of how to execute my race,” said Norman. “Working on the third 100 is crucial for me and making sure I hit specific times that Coach Watts wants me to hit.”
Even with a focus on execution, the world record is already on the horizon for the 21-year-old. He’s the fourth fastest 400-meter runner ever – the three faster than him all held the world record at some point.
“We really focus on training and perfecting our race and becoming the best Michael Norman you can be versus chasing history,” said Norman. “The best thing to do is to focus on yourself and just perfecting your craft, and then everything else will fall in place.”
In a return to his home state of California, Norman will face Kerley at the Pre Classic with the hope of extending his undefeated streak.
“He’s looking in great shape, so I’m just really excited to be able to compete against a really strong field,” said Norman. “This is my first Prefontaine Classic. I really wanted to come in high school, but I couldn’t, so I’m actually really excited to be running in California again. Any opportunity that I can get to run here is going to be an opportunity that I’m going to take.”
