Michael Arthur Norman Jr. (

Japanese surname Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: , born December 3, 1997) is an American sprinter. He previously held the world best time in the indoor 400 meters at 44.52 seconds. Outdoors, his 43.45, set at the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays, is tied on sixth on the all time list. In 2016, he became the world junior champion in both the 200 meters and 4 × 100 meter relay. In 2022, he became the world champion in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay. Norman first gained international attention as a high school senior after he defeated reigning USA champion Justin Gatlin in a semi-final heat of the 200 meters at the 2016 Olympic Trials. He eventually placed fifth in the final and did not qualify for the Olympic team. However, he secured two gold medals at the World Junior Championships later that summer, highlighted by a championship record of 20.17 in the 200 meters. A four-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

champion, Norman set or helped set collegiate records in every NCAA final he ran in 2018. This includes his world best time in the indoor 400 meters and an unofficial world record in the indoor 4 × 400 meter relay when he anchored the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

to a winning time of 3:00.77. Throughout his career, Norman has won numerous awards including the

Gatorade Player of the Year awards The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls Cross country running, cross country, boys A ...

for track and field in both 2015 and 2016, and

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in 2018. Norman graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in May 2019 and currently competes professionally for Nike under his college coaches Quincy Watts and Caryl Smith Gilbert. Michael Norman is one of only 3 men along with Wayde Van Niekerk and Fred Kerley to go sub 10 seconds in 100 m, sub 20 seconds in 200 m and sub 44 seconds in 400 m.

Biography

Norman was born to an

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father and a Japanese mother in

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High school

As a high school junior at Vista Murrieta in Murrieta, CA, Norman broke the NFHS record in the 400 meters with a time of 45.19 seconds at the 2015 CIF California State Meet held at Buchanan High School on June 6, 2015. His time is the fastest 400 meters run by a U.S. high school athlete against other high school-aged athletes, along with Aldrich Bailey who also ran 45.19 seconds in

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on April 28, 2012. On June 6, 2015, Norman had arguably one of the most impressive one-day performances by a high school athlete. The

Vista Murrieta High School Vista Murrieta High School (VMHS) is a comprehensive, four-year high school located in Murrieta, California, United States. It is operated by the Murrieta Valley Unified School District. It opened in August 2003, relieving the overcrowding at Mur ...

junior started his day at the 2015 CIF California State Meet by completely separating from the field on the first leg of the 4 × 100 meter relay, a performance that PrepCalTrack editor Rich Gonzalez described as "jaw-dropping." In his second event of the day, Norman ran 45.19 seconds in the 400 meters, a time that ranked #6 all-time for U.S. high school athletes and tied the NFHS record. Norman came back to win his second individual state title in the 200 meters with a time of 20.30 seconds, a time that also ranked #6 all-time for U.S. high school athletes. Just one hour later, Norman was back on the track with his team for the 4 × 400 meter relay and produced yet another memorable performance by splitting roughly 44.9 seconds on the anchor leg to bring Vista Murrieta from 7th place to 3rd place in the event. With a total contribution of 21.5 points out of the 37 points scored, Norman led his school to its first-ever state title in any sport. Also worth noting is that, including the preliminary rounds from the previous day, Norman ran 7 races within 28 hours at the CIF California State Meet and still produced some of the top marks in the history of high school athletics. On June 13, 2015, Norman competed in the

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Dream 100 meters at the Adidas Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium. With this being his first competitive race in the 100 meters, Norman shocked some of the most talented U.S. high school 100 meter runners by winning the race in 10.36 seconds (-0.5 m/s). On June 27, 2015, Norman set a California state record in the 200 meters at the 2015 USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field by running 20.24 seconds, and in doing so equaled the #5 all-time mark for U.S. high school athletes in the event. This race also ranked Norman #8 all-time on the U.S. junior (under-20) list and #10 all-time on the world junior list. Norman's placement in this race qualified him to compete at the 2015

Pan American Junior Athletics Championships The Pan American U20 Athletics Championships are a biennial sports event for track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and thr ...

, but he decided to forgo his spot on the United States team to avoid extending his competitive season by another month. Norman's times from the 2015 season in both the 200 meters and 400 meters made him eligible to compete at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials. On June 30, 2015, Norman was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for his achievements in track and field. He is only the 28th non-senior to win the

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Player of the Year award in the 30-year history of the program across all sports and the first male sprinter to win the honor as a non-senior.

College

On March 10, 2018, Norman competed at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships and ran an American and collegiate record in the 400 meters with a world best time of 44.52 seconds. Later that day he, along with the rest of the

4 × 400 meter relay team, broke the American and collegiate record in a world best time of 3:00.77. Both of the 400 meters and 4 × 400 meter relay performances were faster than the official world records, but they were not ratified due to various technical reasons, including teammate Rai Benjamin having not been cleared by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

to represent the United States yet. On June 8, 2018, Norman ran a 2018 world leading time in the 400 meters with a time of 43.61 seconds at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships. This time ranked him as the sixth fastest 400 meter runner in history. To cap off his collegiate career, Norman was named winner of

for the 2018 track and field season. He was the first USC Trojan to win the award. His teammate and best friend, Rai Benjamin was also one of the three finalists.

Professional career

Michael Norman made his pro debut on June 30, 2018 at the 2018 IAAF Diamond League in Paris, winning the (non-scoring) 200 m in a personal best time of 19.84 s, ahead of his USC teammate Rai Benjamin who finished second in 19.99 s. On July 20, 2020 while competing in the 100 m sprint at the AP Ranch High Performance Invite #2 Track Meet he ran a 9.86s his first sub-10 100 m sprint. With this performance, Michael Norman became the second athlete, after 400 m

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

holder Wayde van Niekerk, to join the "Sub 10s, 20s, 44s club for the 100 m, 200 m & 400 m sprints". Fred Kerley joined the club in 2021. Norman's 2022 outdoor season was undoubtedly his best to date. In addition to winning his second U.S. Track and Field Championship 400 m title, he won the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial and Prefontaine Classic at 400m - his seventh and eighth Diamond League wins. At the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the ...

, he won gold in the 400 m in a time of 44.29 and followed up his victory with a relay medal in 4 × 400 m relay. In 2023, Norman left his longtime coach Quincy Watts and undertook an unsuccessful pivot to the 100 m under coach John Smith. He was eliminated in the first round of the

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...

in the event and ended his season shortly after. Norman returned to Watts and the 400 m in November 2023 in anticipation of the 2024 Olympic Games.

Statistics

Information from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests

Seasonal bests

The highlighted times are track records, correct August 2024.

National competition record

*NCAA results from Track & Field Results Reporting System.

International competition record

Circuit Wins

;Outdoor *

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

**Final winner:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

(400 m,

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) **

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

(200 m) **

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(200 m) **

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

(400 m) ** Eugene:

(400 m) **

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

(400 m) ** Eugene:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

(400 m) ;Indoor * World Indoor Tour Gold **

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

: 2021 (400 m)

Notes

References

External links

* * (Track & Field Results Reporting System)
Michael Norman
bio at USC Athletics * * * *

Videos

Michael Norman and Rai Benjamin at the Mt SAC Relays 2019
via MyStyle Records on

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Michael Norman's record NCAA Indoor 400m , 2018
via the

Michael Norman Upsets Noah Lyles at Diamond League , NBC Sports
via

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Michael 1997 births Living people American male sprinters American sportspeople of Japanese descent Sportspeople from Murrieta, California Track and field athletes from California USC Trojans men's track and field athletes United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships winners Diamond League winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century American sportsmen