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A18 SPORTS
Tuesday 24 sepTember 2019
On record: Hurdler Kevin Young hoping mark stands at worlds

By PAT GRAHAM don’t want to get that elu-
AP Sports Writer sive phone call,” he said.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — For “But the inevitability of that
27 years, 400-meter hurdler happening is out there.”
Kevin Young has followed a Young has a good movie
similar routine to celebrate for you — The Young Story. It
his world record: Call some stars, well, him, and tells the
media outlets to drum up tale of a kid who grew up
interest (usually, not many in Watts, a neighborhood
takers) and perform a few in southern Los Angeles
push-ups (just because). and attended Jordan High,
That’s it. No popping of the same school where the
champagne. No special late Florence Griffith-Joyner
dinners. The American ran ran years earlier. He was a
46.78 seconds on Aug. 6, walk-on at UCLA and be-
1992 , on his way to Olym- came an NCAA champion.
pic gold at the Barcelona Then, his story really gets
Games. It remains one of good.
the longest-standing world Among the favorites to
records on the men’s side medal at the 1988 Seoul
and yet he lives in anonym- Games, Young developed
ity. a knot in his hamstring mo-
Few fans recognize him. ments before the final. Im-
Well, sometimes he does In this Aug. 6, 1992, file photo, USA’s Kevin Young celebrates crossing the finish line of the 400 mediately after the race,
get asked about it when he meter hurdles in a world record time of 45.78 seconds at the summer Olympic in Barcelona, Spain. the knot mysteriously fad-
wears a chain with a good- Associated Press ed. He finished fourth as
luck charm that reads air-conditioned Khalifa Sta- Hall of Famer remains in a ny in the under-47 club until American André Phillips
“46.78 .” But most confuse dium. Sorry, he’s heading class by himself. He’s char- Samba went 46.98 on June took gold.
the numbers for a birthday. back to school with classes ismatic (he’s got stories ga- 30, 2018. At a race in Zur- To motivate himself, Young
His mark will be in the spot- starting. lore), speaks his mind (feels ich on Aug. 29, more com- would write the time of
light at the world champi- He was awarded a schol- his record should’ve been pany was added as War- “46.89” on paper and stuff
onships this week, because arship to Swansea Univer- more heralded) and loves holm (46.92) and Benjamin it inside his spikes. The “89”
there’s a good chance it sity in Wales, where will be social media. He wishes (46.98) joined the ranks. was a reference to his No.
might fall. Maybe Karsten working on his master’s de- Instagram would’ve been All three will be lining up in 1 ranking in ‘89. That’s how
Warholm of Norway breaks gree in sports integrity and around when he broke the Doha. bad he wanted the mark.
it or Rai Benjamin of the U.S. ethics. He has an eye on mark because he’s con- “Maybe one of us man- Leading into the ‘92 Olym-
Or possibly local favorite possibly working for the In- vinced it would’ve made ages to match or break it in pics, the ever-confident
Abderrahman Samba of ternational Olympic Com- him a “household name.” the near future,” Warholm Young would pretend to
Qatar. mittee. “The real story is the lack wrote in an email. “Time will win gold — at practices.
For the record, Young However, if IAAF president of a story,” Young said. “I show.” “I did the victory laps, cel-
doesn’t want to see his Sebastian Coe really wants guess I shocked the world Young’s pick to break the ebrated, had the hand
mark broken — ever. him to be in Doha for the so much, they couldn’t mark: Warholm by a slight wave, all that,” Young re-
“I want to own the record 400 hurdles final on Mon- even speak about it.” lean. counted. “I had to turn my-
as long as I can because it day, Sept. 30, he might be What he did that day in Bar- Young sure would like to self into a beast.”
makes me relevant,” Young able to make it. celona was become the be there in Doha, just in In his record-setting race,
said in a phone interview. One condition: “Tell Seb to first 400 hurdler to eclipse case (he was in Switzerland he started fast and only
“After someone breaks it, I fly me in on his private jet,” the 47-second barrier, last month). All he needs is built from there. He pow-
go from world-record hold- Young cracked. “But re- breaking a record that had transportation and an ex- ered right over the final hur-
er to simply hurdles fan.” mind him I have class the belonged to IAAF Hall of cuse from class. dle and raised his right arm
The 53-year-old Young will next day.” Famer Edwin Moses (47.02). “I’d love to be in the sta- in celebration well before
skip the action inside the The USA Track and Field Young didn’t have compa- dium when it goes down. I the finish line.q

Mediate rallies to win Sanford International

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Rocco Mediate need- do this crazy stuff. Putted my you-know-what off rie and Bob Estes, who each had a 67. “I hit a
ed just about everything to go right for him to today, but I hit a lot of good shots, too. I hit a lot good tee shot and it just kicked hard right into
win the Sanford International, and it did. of green, kept my head together and here we the rough a foot and I had a horrible lie,” Duke
Ken Duke had everything go wrong on the last are.” said. “Then, I hit the shot up here and I thought
hole that helped Mediate to his first victory on It was his first victory since the Senior PGA Cham- it was in a seam of sod, but he said there was
the PGA Tour Champions in three years. pionship in 2016. no sod, nothing sodded. It was probably one of
Mediate birdied his last two holes for a 6-under Duke had a share of the lead going into the fi- the worst lies I’ve ever had sitting down. I mean,
64 at Minnehaha Country Club. He won after nal round for the first time in his career and held then what are you going to do after that? Noth-
Duke, tied for the lead going into the final hole, his own until the last hole. His drive took a hop ing you can do about it. I played good. Thanks
caught two nasty lies in the rough and made to the right into the rough, leaving Duke a bad for all the people that came out and it was
double bogey. lie. From off the green, he sought relief because great to be here.”
Mediate wound up winning by two shots. he thought the ball was in the lining of sod, but Jay Haas (66) and Steve Flesch (68) tied for fifth.
“When I added them up, I went, ‘Holy crap, that wasn’t the case. Scott McCarron, who leads the Charles Schwab
64.’ That was cool,” Mediate said. “It was just It took him four shots to reach the green, and he Cup, shot 67 with a bogey on the 18th and tied
one of those days everything kind of went really missed the putt. for seventh. Only two tournaments are left be-
good. When I was bad, I got it up-and-down. His double bogey gave him a 69 and forced him fore the Schwab Cup playoffs, a series of three
When I was good, I made putts. You have to to share second place with Colin Montgome- tournaments.q