Matthew Boling (born June 20, 2000) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete specializing in the sprints and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

. He won four gold medals at the 2019 Pan American U20 Championships in the 100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m relay and 4 × 400 m relay, and helped set world under-20 records in both of the relay races for the United States. He also ran in the semi-final for the American team at the 2018 World U20 Championships that went on to earn silver in the final. Boling gained national attention during the Spring of 2019 for his accomplishments in high school track and field. In March, he leaped the farthest in the long jump for a high school athlete in ten years with a 26' 3.5" (8.01 m) mark at the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are he ...

, and then bested the high school all-conditions 100 m record, breaking the

10-second barrier The 10-second barrier is the physical and psychological barrier of completing the 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds. The achievement is traditionally regarded as the hallmark of a world-class male sprinter. Its significance has become less i ...

with a

wind-assisted In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather that can affect sport. Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the at ...

9.98 seconds run on April 27, 2019. Boling finished his high school track career in May at the Texas state championships by running a 44.74 second anchor in the relay for the Strake Jesuit Crusaders, coming from behind to win in the fastest time for a high school team in the nation that year (3:10.56)

Early life

Matthew Boling was born to Mark and Monique Boling on June 20, 2000, with a twin brother, Michael. They grew up in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and attended

River Oaks Baptist School River Oaks Baptist School is a Private school, private, Christian, co-educational day school for students in K-8 school, preschool, lower school and middle school located in River Oaks, Houston, Houston, Texas. Founded as a mission of a small Bap ...

, where Matthew began running track. The two then began attending

Strake Jesuit College Preparatory Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (properly referred to as Strake Jesuit or Jesuit but often informally called Strake by students and alumni) is a Jesuit, college-preparatory school for boys, grades 9–12, in the Chinatown area and in the Greate ...

. Initially, Matthew competed in the high jump, then began focusing on the long jump and the 400m. At the

2018 IAAF World U20 Championships The 2018 World U20 Championships in Athletics, also known as the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 1999) which was held at Tampere Stadiu ...

, Boling ran the opening leg for the USA's relay team, which went on to get the silver medal in the final. In November that year, he committed to the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Breakthrough

Boling went viral in 2019 when he broke the

with a wind-aided 9.98 seconds on April 27, 2019, setting the high school all-conditions record in the 100m. He subsequently took on the nickname White Lightning, which was a reference to his race and to his speed. He also long jumped 26 ft, 3in (8.01m) at the

, the furthest jump for a high school athlete in 10 years. He won both events at the Texas UIL 6A State Championships, setting the wind-legal US high school record of 10.13 seconds in the 100m, and anchored Strake Jesuit to 3rd in the . He went viral once again in the when he split 44.74 seconds on his anchor leg to bring Strake Jesuit a win from over 20m behind. After winning the 100m and 200m at the USA U20 Championships, Boling turned the double at the 2019 Pan American U20 Athletics Championships in San José, Costa Rica. Both times (10.11 and 20.31, respectively) were personal bests, and his 100m time of 10.11 was also a championship record. He then ran the 4th and 2nd legs for the USA's and teams, respectively, both setting World U20 records. For his performances, Gatorade awarded Boling its National Boys Track & Field Player of the Year honors for 2018–19, and he was named the 2019 High School Boys Athlete Of The Year by ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running ...

''.Lindstrom, Seige (September 12, 2019)
"2019 HS Boys Athlete Of The Year — Matthew Boling"
''

''. Retrieved April 13, 2021.

Collegiate career

2020

Before his first season at Georgia was cut short by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Boling attempted the 60m, 200m, Long Jump and the indoors. At the SEC Indoor Championships, Boling finished second overall in the 200m with 20.71 seconds, losing to

Terrance Laird Terrance Laird (born October 12, 1998) is an American track and field athlete specializing in the 100 meters and 200 meters sprints. Career Laird's freshman year was at Penn State in 2017-18, where he won the Men's Freshman of the Year award ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

from the first section.

2021

Returning to track, Boling again tried each event and chose to focus on the 200m for the indoor season. At the SEC Championships, he was disqualified in the final for stepping out of his lane on the final turn, and Laird took the title. However, because he ranked high enough by running 20.37 in his preliminary, he qualified for his first NCAA Indoor Championships, where he corrected his mistake and won the national title. He clocked a 20.19, the joint-sixth fastest time in history. Laird and Boling's rivalry was set to grow in the outdoor season with the addition of the 100m and . At the SEC Outdoor Championships, Laird won the 100m/200m double, while Boling finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. His time of 20.06 seconds was a personal best in the 200m. Boling ran the anchor for Georgia's , with a slight lead but was caught by Laird and finished 2nd. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships at

Hayward Field Hayward Field is a track and field stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. It has been the home of the university's track and field teams since 1921, and was the on-campus ho ...

in Eugene, Oregon, Boling finished 6th and 5th in the 100m and 200m, respectively. Boling was considered a Freshman in 2021 by many, due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

causing a short season his Freshman year. Boling stayed in Eugene for the US Olympic Trials, where he finished 14th overall in the 100m semis and 9th overall in the 200m semis, bringing his first complete College season and first Olympic tryout to an end.

2022

SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championship Placed 4th at the 100m in a time of 10.13. Won the 200m with the time of 20.01. NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championship Placed 6th at the 100m with a time of 10.18. Placed 2nd at the 200m in a time of 20.13

Statistics

*Information from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal records

International competitions

National championships

*NCAA results from Track & Field Results Reporting System.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boling, Matthew 2000 births Living people Track and field athletes from Houston American male long jumpers American male sprinters Strake Jesuit College Preparatory alumni Georgia Bulldogs men's track and field athletes