Xavier Carter won the 400m/100m Double at the 2006 NCAA Championships
Not So Strange, but probably one of the toughest feat to accomplish for any sprinter
Trindon Holliday, I believe is who you're thinking of. Dude was like 5'6" and and he had 99 in the only two stats that mattered, speed and acceleration. Absolutely unstoppable in NCAA.
I went to school in VA and used to watch Grant Holloway smoke the long jump, high jump, 300 hurdles, 100h, and the 4x4 and I think he did football too in the off-season
Competed against Mickael Hanany way back in the day and he crushed our conference championships one year tripling LJ/HJ/TJ.
Think he went 7’6” in high jump, 25’10” in long jump, and like 54’ish all in the same meet.
Is it? I feel like any of the jumps go together. I, and several others I completed against through college attempted that triple (tho obv we weren't jumping 7'8 or 27 ' lol).
Wouldn’t say 2 jumps are unusual. Pretty much every jumper is pretty good at all the jumps. In Harrison’s case the only thing that’s unusual is qualifying for the olympics in both. But a LJ/HJ double is really not that unusual
So not olympic level but I coached a kid who was in PV but was also an 800m runner.
In high school he vaulted 15'3" while running 1:52 in the 800m.
He held the school record in both events.
Kid I grew up with was a 10.9 sprinter at age 13….he asked if he could try the PV….they laugh at let him do it. After a 5 minute tutorial, this dude was clearing 10 feet (that was a lot to us back then) like it was nothing. Ended up placing 7th in the JOs in the 100 and 5th in PV. One of those dudes that was good in EVERYTHING he did. Ended up playing football in college and I’m pretty sure he played in the NFL for a bit too.
Sounds like my cousin. He was a 6’9” HJer in HS. Went to an SEC school as a QB and blew out his knee his first semester. Then he played baseball because he had a 90MPH fastball. Graduated early and went into grad school and decided to throw the Javelin. He qualified for D1 NCAAs. Just a solid all around athlete but never spent enough time in any sport to break through.
At a state HS meet, high jump and shotput. Medaled in both.
Another won shot and discus, also throws javelin and hammer in club track, going to throw shot, hammer and possibly javelin in college.
Not the strongest state for comp, but in Iowa there’s a boy that in the past 2 years won a high jump state title and finished second in both shotput and discus. Believe he’ll be playing football at Iowa next year
Probably not the strangest but at the trials Jordan Geist is competing in both Hammer and Shot Put (came in 4th). They may both be throwing events, but the forms are extremely different. At the NCAA championships there was a decathlete who threw in the open Discus as well which is pretty odd to see. Usually if a decathlete is good at a throwing event it’s the Javelin where overall size and strength matter less than they do for Discus or Shot Put.
And she could probably do discus as well in some meets with her 62.47m PR. But you don’t see it on the men’s side outside of college. Not to disparage her achievements by any means, but the body types become a lot more standardized at the professional level on the men’s side of the throwing events. Not many men’s hammer throwers end up thick enough in the chest to really compete at a professional level with the 16lb shot, and vice versa for hammer. Or the shot putters are quite tall like Crouser. I think Geist is one of the very few male professional throwers who sits close enough to the middle to throw both at an Olympic level.
I would like to note I think the diversity in body types in the women’s throws makes them more interesting to watch sometimes.
Deion Sanders, anyone?
Just a snippet from his Wikipedia page:
On May 16, 1987 (while the Metro Conference baseball and track championships were being played simultaneously in Columbia, South Carolina), Sanders played in the conference semifinal baseball game against Southern Mississippi, ran a leg of a 4 × 100 relay, then returned to play in the baseball championship game against Cincinnati.
_"There goes Juantorena down the back straight, opening his legs and showing his class…"_
I was at the second day of the 1983 European Cup at Crystal Palace and saw Kratochvilova beat Marita Koch over 200m, though both were given the same time.
This was the day after Kratochvilova had won the 800m, and a week after Koch had taken 200m gold at the World Championships. Kratochvilova herself, earlier at the WC, had done the 400/800m double finishing with her infamous 47.60.
Simpler, druggier times!
Robert Strait was the top running back in the country his senior year in the late 80s. At our district meet he won the 100, SP, HJ, and anchored the 4x100.
I knew of a gal who played in a high school division championship waterpolo game then went and ran at the division championship cross country meet that afternoon.
In the spring she competed in the division champs in the 800m, hj, Pv, and 100m hurdles and the next day swam in the 50m and 100m freestyle at the division swim meet.
Went to state for the 800 and the pole vault.
Bo Jackson played in the MLB and NFL.
Wilt Chamberlain did all sorts of track & field events. 100, 400, 800, high jump, shot put. He's in the basketball and volleyball hall of fame.
Bill Russell was the first man to high jump 7 ft before the Fosbury Flop. And of course won 11 NBA championships.
Not quite at Olympic trials level, but you'll see some interesting doubles in open events from heptathletes. Most interesting double I've seen was jav and 400h at NCAA first rounds.
In high school a guy I knew from a nearby school was a distance runner all four years. He decides to mess around with the high jump about halfway through his senior year and rapidly improves as he works on his form. He makes it to state in the 3200m and the high jump and ends up as an all-stater in the high jump.
Not at an Olympic Level, but in high school I saw a guy do the 800m and Javelin at state. He got first in the 800m with a 1:52.68 and 4th in Javelin with a 167' 4" throw. This was also in 6A which is our biggest division. He now runs in college but he no longer does Javelin.
Curtis Beach was pretty unique, he did the decathlon at NCAAs but if I remember right that year at the trials he ran both the 800 and competed in the long jump.
Girl on my NCAA DI college team went to state in HS in both the 4x100 relay and the shot and discus. I think she medaled in all of them. May have also qualified in the individual 100. She was lean for a thrower, but still a huskier build and definitely large for the 100. I think she ran like a 12.5 100 or something which was pretty good in WI (back mid 2000's). Another girl, Laura Roesler from ND was state champion in like every flat running event from the 100 all the way up through XC I think and then later was a pro 800 m runner post college.
A kid I used to coach would regularly double the 2 mile and 4x200. Animal at both events, school record holder in the 2 mile and alternate for the school record 4x2. One of the legs played lacrosse and at a meet they couldn't make, this kid filled in and the relay went under the old school record, but was just shy of the one that was set a week prior.
A kid I competed against in high school was all state in the mile and 2 mile, and also scored at regional in the pole vault.
Charisma Taylor from Bahamas does hurdles and long jump. That in and of itself might not be that crazy but I recall either world indoors or a circuit meet (more likely world indoors) as she was flitting between the 2 at the same time (at world indoors it would have been 60m hurdles)
When I was in college there was a woman that won the steeplechase and took 4th in the triple jump at conference.
In high school Joey Hiben took 3rd in the 110 hurdles and 9th at the shot put at state (he won shot put the next year).
Xavier Carter won the 400m/100m Double at the 2006 NCAA Championships Not So Strange, but probably one of the toughest feat to accomplish for any sprinter
Biggest what-if the sport has ever seen.
At that point must as well throw in the 200m
Probably would have won it if he wasn’t in both the 4x100 & 4x400 relay
Is that the LSU sprinter who also played football? Loved using him in EA NCAA football….dude was unstoppable
Trindon Holliday, I believe is who you're thinking of. Dude was like 5'6" and and he had 99 in the only two stats that mattered, speed and acceleration. Absolutely unstoppable in NCAA.
Bro really showed up and dropped a 19.63 one day and disappeared forever
Long jump / high jump is unusual. JuVaughn Harrison made both finals in Tokyo, but he didn't enter the long jump at trials this time.
I went to school in VA and used to watch Grant Holloway smoke the long jump, high jump, 300 hurdles, 100h, and the 4x4 and I think he did football too in the off-season
He’s the only athlete that I want to see make a jump to decathlon. He’s extremely versatile & could probably be World Class in the Event
He did it at NBN I think senior year
Had no idea he was from the 757!
Yeah in the same year we.had Drew Hunter, Noah Lyles (and Josephus) and Grant Holloway
Shame too he probably could have won
Competed against Mickael Hanany way back in the day and he crushed our conference championships one year tripling LJ/HJ/TJ. Think he went 7’6” in high jump, 25’10” in long jump, and like 54’ish all in the same meet.
Is it? I feel like any of the jumps go together. I, and several others I completed against through college attempted that triple (tho obv we weren't jumping 7'8 or 27 ' lol).
Wouldn’t say 2 jumps are unusual. Pretty much every jumper is pretty good at all the jumps. In Harrison’s case the only thing that’s unusual is qualifying for the olympics in both. But a LJ/HJ double is really not that unusual
Isn’t Angelina Topic pretty decent at LJ for a HJer?
So not olympic level but I coached a kid who was in PV but was also an 800m runner. In high school he vaulted 15'3" while running 1:52 in the 800m. He held the school record in both events.
1:52 in high school.. jesus.
Randy wWilson. 800/HH.
Kid I grew up with was a 10.9 sprinter at age 13….he asked if he could try the PV….they laugh at let him do it. After a 5 minute tutorial, this dude was clearing 10 feet (that was a lot to us back then) like it was nothing. Ended up placing 7th in the JOs in the 100 and 5th in PV. One of those dudes that was good in EVERYTHING he did. Ended up playing football in college and I’m pretty sure he played in the NFL for a bit too.
Sounds like my cousin. He was a 6’9” HJer in HS. Went to an SEC school as a QB and blew out his knee his first semester. Then he played baseball because he had a 90MPH fastball. Graduated early and went into grad school and decided to throw the Javelin. He qualified for D1 NCAAs. Just a solid all around athlete but never spent enough time in any sport to break through.
At a state HS meet, high jump and shotput. Medaled in both. Another won shot and discus, also throws javelin and hammer in club track, going to throw shot, hammer and possibly javelin in college.
High jump and shot has to win this question! Thats crazy.
And she wasn't the only one. I think there were 3 last year and 2 this year.
In HS, Erin Donahoe (2008 US team inthe 1500) was the girl's mile national champ and placed 3rd in the javelin. She competed in both in college.
Lol okay that's definitely weird
Not the strongest state for comp, but in Iowa there’s a boy that in the past 2 years won a high jump state title and finished second in both shotput and discus. Believe he’ll be playing football at Iowa next year
Chase (Easely) Jackson shot put and 100m state hs champ double is pretty crazy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Jackson
Came here to say this.
Probably not the strangest but at the trials Jordan Geist is competing in both Hammer and Shot Put (came in 4th). They may both be throwing events, but the forms are extremely different. At the NCAA championships there was a decathlete who threw in the open Discus as well which is pretty odd to see. Usually if a decathlete is good at a throwing event it’s the Javelin where overall size and strength matter less than they do for Discus or Shot Put.
Maggie Ewen has been doubling Hammer and Shot for about a decade
And she could probably do discus as well in some meets with her 62.47m PR. But you don’t see it on the men’s side outside of college. Not to disparage her achievements by any means, but the body types become a lot more standardized at the professional level on the men’s side of the throwing events. Not many men’s hammer throwers end up thick enough in the chest to really compete at a professional level with the 16lb shot, and vice versa for hammer. Or the shot putters are quite tall like Crouser. I think Geist is one of the very few male professional throwers who sits close enough to the middle to throw both at an Olympic level. I would like to note I think the diversity in body types in the women’s throws makes them more interesting to watch sometimes.
Valarie Allman is the perfect example. I’d take her for a hep or sprinter. Love that she’s crushing it!
It's spinning. Shot, hammer, all about the apins
Deion Sanders, anyone? Just a snippet from his Wikipedia page: On May 16, 1987 (while the Metro Conference baseball and track championships were being played simultaneously in Columbia, South Carolina), Sanders played in the conference semifinal baseball game against Southern Mississippi, ran a leg of a 4 × 100 relay, then returned to play in the baseball championship game against Cincinnati.
Not "strange" in the way you meant, but Alberto Juantorena's 400/800 double in Montreal in '76 stands out to me as the most mind-blowing
_"There goes Juantorena down the back straight, opening his legs and showing his class…"_ I was at the second day of the 1983 European Cup at Crystal Palace and saw Kratochvilova beat Marita Koch over 200m, though both were given the same time. This was the day after Kratochvilova had won the 800m, and a week after Koch had taken 200m gold at the World Championships. Kratochvilova herself, earlier at the WC, had done the 400/800m double finishing with her infamous 47.60. Simpler, druggier times!
Robert Strait was the top running back in the country his senior year in the late 80s. At our district meet he won the 100, SP, HJ, and anchored the 4x100.
I knew of a gal who played in a high school division championship waterpolo game then went and ran at the division championship cross country meet that afternoon. In the spring she competed in the division champs in the 800m, hj, Pv, and 100m hurdles and the next day swam in the 50m and 100m freestyle at the division swim meet. Went to state for the 800 and the pole vault.
Bo Jackson played in the MLB and NFL. Wilt Chamberlain did all sorts of track & field events. 100, 400, 800, high jump, shot put. He's in the basketball and volleyball hall of fame. Bill Russell was the first man to high jump 7 ft before the Fosbury Flop. And of course won 11 NBA championships.
Wow 7 ft w/o the fosbury flop is super impressive!
Erin Donahoe ran the 1500 in the 2008 Olympics. At UNC, she also threw javelin well enough to score points at the ACC championships.
Not quite at Olympic trials level, but you'll see some interesting doubles in open events from heptathletes. Most interesting double I've seen was jav and 400h at NCAA first rounds.
Discus & High Hurdles, top 5 State in both
Can't forget Sifan Hassan's 1500/10000 gold at 2019 Worlds.
In high school a guy I knew from a nearby school was a distance runner all four years. He decides to mess around with the high jump about halfway through his senior year and rapidly improves as he works on his form. He makes it to state in the 3200m and the high jump and ends up as an all-stater in the high jump.
Kate Douglass 50 freestyle and 200 breaststroke
Not at an Olympic Level, but in high school I saw a guy do the 800m and Javelin at state. He got first in the 800m with a 1:52.68 and 4th in Javelin with a 167' 4" throw. This was also in 6A which is our biggest division. He now runs in college but he no longer does Javelin.
Curtis Beach was pretty unique, he did the decathlon at NCAAs but if I remember right that year at the trials he ran both the 800 and competed in the long jump.
Meghan Owens from Centre did the 10,000m and Javelin double at D3 nationals in 2021!
Girl on my NCAA DI college team went to state in HS in both the 4x100 relay and the shot and discus. I think she medaled in all of them. May have also qualified in the individual 100. She was lean for a thrower, but still a huskier build and definitely large for the 100. I think she ran like a 12.5 100 or something which was pretty good in WI (back mid 2000's). Another girl, Laura Roesler from ND was state champion in like every flat running event from the 100 all the way up through XC I think and then later was a pro 800 m runner post college.
Anna Hall doing Heptathlon & 400 Hurdles was pretty bonkers.
At our conference meet I had a senior run in all 4 relays. We won them all. His sophomore year he was conference champ in the 3200
I once saw a high school girl in a small school division win her state title in the 100, 400, and 1600
Ngl I seen someone on Reddit said that a girl won in the 2/4/8. Ik that’s a triple but still
Winning the 2/4/8 is crazy in one meet
Shot, high jump and 1500m treble at my first ever competition 😉
In college we had a guy do a 400/800/pv combo
A kid I used to coach would regularly double the 2 mile and 4x200. Animal at both events, school record holder in the 2 mile and alternate for the school record 4x2. One of the legs played lacrosse and at a meet they couldn't make, this kid filled in and the relay went under the old school record, but was just shy of the one that was set a week prior. A kid I competed against in high school was all state in the mile and 2 mile, and also scored at regional in the pole vault.
I've seen pv/5k double. It was a lower level, though, not elite in either, like 14:45 and mid 15 feet, so lower level collegiate.
400 hurdles and pole vault! Did it all through high school and now college, still get crazy looks for it.
I was a 3200 and LJ doubler for a while. Never seen anyone do that
There was a guy can’t remember his name but he was in the NCAA finals last year for the 800m and the 3000m steeplechase
Charisma Taylor from Bahamas does hurdles and long jump. That in and of itself might not be that crazy but I recall either world indoors or a circuit meet (more likely world indoors) as she was flitting between the 2 at the same time (at world indoors it would have been 60m hurdles)
When I was in college there was a woman that won the steeplechase and took 4th in the triple jump at conference. In high school Joey Hiben took 3rd in the 110 hurdles and 9th at the shot put at state (he won shot put the next year).