Following his latest 50m race problem in opposition to Olympic and world champion Noah Lyles, American YouTuber and streamer IShowSpeed (Darren Jason Watkins Jr.) introduced that his latest pursuit might be to compete on the L.A. Olympics in 2028. Alongside his energetic gaming movies, the content material creator has proven off his pure athleticism via soccer matches, backflips, sprinting challenges and leaping over transferring vehicles–so followers suppose that Velocity has a shot.
🚨| BREAKING: Velocity has introduced he might be RUNNING within the 100m on the 2028 OLYMPICS 🤯 pic.twitter.com/NHj49WAy9Q
— Speedy HQ (@IShowSpeedHQ) November 17, 2024
“In 2028, I’ll be operating on the Olympics for certain,” Velocity mentioned at a stay occasion on Sunday. He revealed he would race the 50m, 100m and “perhaps” 200m races–earlier than it was identified that there isn’t a 50m race on the Video games. Followers speculate that with coaching, the 19-year-old may have potential to do effectively within the sport. “Velocity, with some coaching, really has a giant likelihood to win,” one commenter mentioned.
Within the match-up in opposition to Lyles in early November, Velocity delivered a surprisingly fast begin. The YouTuber was profitable for the primary few steps earlier than Lyles caught up and comfortably claimed the win. Though YouTube followers say it was an in depth race and Velocity himself even insisted it was a tie, monitor followers know in any other case.
“Now, everyone is scared to race me,” Velocity mentioned throughout a stream on Nov. 11. “I’m not about to say no names, however all these people who find themselves professionals–no matter they’re professionals at–they’re scared to race me.”
“That even goes out to Noah,” he added. “That’s the explanation Noah didn’t even need to race me once more. If Noah would have raced me once more, he is aware of he would have misplaced.”
Making the U.S. Olympic staff would require a major shift in focus and devoted coaching; the 19-year-old was a sprinter in highschool however now could be a full-time content material creator. Velocity has 35 million TikTok followers, 26 million Instagram followers and 33 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
@nfl undoubtedly official 😂 #ishowspeed #sketch #nfl @IShowSpeed @Sketch ♬ authentic sound – NFL
In April, he turned heads after claiming to run the 40-yard sprint (36.5 metres) in 4.4 seconds–whereas carrying foam sneakers. The 40-yard sprint is a benchmark pace check for NFL athletes, and even for professionals, a time beneath 4.6 seconds is taken into account exceptionally quick.