Sam Blaskowski ran 9.89 in the 100m at the Music City Track Carnival in Cleveland, Tennessee — a wind-legal personal best that shaved 0.16 off his previous mark of 10.05, made him the fastest American of 2026, and put him at #2 in the world this season. He skipped the 9.90s entirely. He's 23. He went to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, a Division III program where his grandparents live a mile from the stadium and both his parents went to school. He has 11 individual NCAA D3 titles. He spent last off-season working at a small regional airport to save money for his move to Florida, where he now trains under Dennis Mitchell at Star Athletics alongside Kenny Bednarek, Sha'Carri Richardson, and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden. This is his first season with the group. In this conversation, recorded 48 hours after the race, Sam walks us through the full arc — the soccer and swimming background, the YMCA YouTube tutorials during COVID, and the year-over-year drops from 10.29 to 10.13 to 10.09 to 10.05 to 9.89. We get into what his college coach Matt Gordy unlocked in him, what Star Athletics has done to fix the back half of his race, and the financial reality of building a pro sprinting career from a Division III program. Plus: the headline he'd rather people focus on, and why "number two in the world" is the story he wants told. Take this interview on-the-go: APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meet-sam-blaskowski-the-d3-kid-who-just-ran-9-89-for-100m/id1204506559?i=1000770634899 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0YBMdt4RuGUftF804rdSVu ____________ Host: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez Guest: Sam Blaskowski | @_sam_blaskowski_ FOLLOW CITIUS MAG ▶ Subscribe to the podcast: https://apple.co/3Byp72I ▶ On Twitter: http://twitter.com/CitiusMag ▶ On Instagram: http://instagram.com/citiusmag ▶ On Facebook: http://facebook.com/citiusmag ▶ Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/citiusmag ▶ On our website: http://citiusmag.com For other inquiries, contact us: chris@citiusmag.com Thanks for watching - please like, share and comment, and subscribe! Help us continue to bring track and field to your home and become a member today! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjyDlyHPHLhcIT8ov53d5qg/join

Meet Sam Blaskowski: The D3 Kid Who Just Ran 9.89 For 100m

Meet Sam Blaskowski: The D3 Kid Who Just Ran 9.89 For 100m