Immediately after DK Metcalf dominated highlight reels for his rundown of Budda Baker during the 2020 NFL season, the Seahawks star got a playful invitation from USA Track & Field (USATF) to bring his speed to their lanes. It turns out, according to Yahoo! Sports, that Metcalf all but obliged, enlisting his agent just days later to contact USATF and begin preparations to train for the 100-meter sprint. Now, the Pro Bowl wide receiver is set to take the next step, with NBC Sports reporting that Metcalf is one of 16 sprinters entered to run at the USATF Golden Games and Distance Open on Saturday.
Metcalf's agent has not confirmed the pass catcher is attempting to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials, which are used to select U.S. representatives for the Olympic Games. But a certain performance on Saturday could grant him that opportunity. Per NBC, Metcalf would likely need a 10.2-second finish -- with a legal tailwind of no more than 2 meters per second -- to qualify. A 10.05-second finish in the 100m, meanwhile, would automatically qualify him.
Though Metcalf has been clocked as one of the fastest players on an NFL field in the past, he hasn't participated in track and field since high school, before his days at Ole Miss. Even then, he was a hurdler rather than sprinter. At the Golden Games and Distance Open, he'll be up against some of the fastest men in the country -- perhaps, ultimately, more than 30.
"DK's agent told us that he really wants to try to make the Olympics and asked what steps he needs to take," USATF's Adam Schmenk told Yahoo! Sports. "We walked him through what the auto qualifying time was that he would have to run in a sanctioned USATF event and told him that we would help him find a lane if and when he wanted to do this.
"We know that these professional athletes can do superhuman things," he added, "but we also know that there is typically a difference between track speed and other speed. We hope that DK's presence will encourage people to tune in to watch."
