Florida teen breaks Usain Bolt’s record in 200-metre race

Erriyon Knighton, 17, won with a time of 20.11 seconds

Erriyon Knighton (pictured in May) broke Usain Bolt’s 200-meter race record on Monday (AP)

A Florida teenager, who went professional in January, broke Usain Bolt’s 200-metre race time for athletes under the age of 18.

Erriyon Knighton, 17, won the race with a time of 20.11 seconds, which shaved off 0.02 seconds from the time Bolt achieved in 2003, NBC Sports reported.

The record was broken at an American Track League meet held in Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday.

Mr Bolt still holds the fastest 200-metre run for a 17-year-old, though, after he clocked 19.93 in April 2004. But Mr Bolt turned 18 years old during that calendar year and thus did not qualify for the record, according to a US Track and Field rules.

On Monday, the teenager beat several star runners, including Trayvon Bromell, who ran this year’s fastest 100-metre race with a time of 9.88 seconds. Mr Bromell came in second with a time of 20.20 seconds.

Mr Knighton’s track career is expected to continue onto the Olympic world stage with the athlete competing in the US Olympic trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in two weeks.

Currently, the runner ranks seventh in the 200-metres, but the US will only take the top three racers to the Olympics.

Mr Knighton will have stiff competition from athletes like Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek and Terrance Laird, who all run the 200-metres in 19.81 seconds or less, making them some of the fastest men in the world.

The athlete’s interest in running first started when he was a freshman in high school playing football. Knighton’s football coach recommended he join the track team at Tampa Hillsborough High School.

He continued to play wide receiver for his school’s football team and was even offered to play college football for several schools, including University of Alabama, University of Florida and Florida State University.

But he decided to run professionally his junior year of high school.

The teenager’s next big racing test will come in two weeks at the US Olympic trials.