Sawt Falasteen - Football's loss as hurdles sensation Tinch eyes Tokyo worlds

To say Tinch evolved into one of the favourites to top the podium at next month's world championships in Tokyo from under the radar is somewhat of an understatement.

The 25-year-old was destined for a life devoted to sealing a dream of playing American football in the NFL.

That dream was binned, however, and then his re-direction to track and field also fell by the wayside thanks to Covid.

"Out of high school, I went to college for football. I turned that dream down. There were things that just didn't align with me, so I gave that up and moved on to continue to run track," he said ahead of Thursday's Diamond League finals in Zurich.

"And then Covid happened, shut everything down. I just kind of lost my motivation for the sport in its entirety."

Tinch had earned a scholarship to play football and run track at the University of Minnesota. He later transferred to follow the coach who had recruited him, Paul Thornton, to the University of Kansas.

- Selling phones -

When the global pandemic hit, Tinch took a step back, later enrolling at Coffeyville Community College, Kansas, in late 2020 before returning home to Green Bay and a job selling mobile phones.

"I had left, and then my roommate, who was at that university before Covid, he reached out to me in at the end of 2022, in December," said Tinch, who also credits the support of his mother Elizabeth Simmons with his route back to track.

His roomate -- Treyvon Ferguson -- convinced Tinch to enroll at Pittsburg State University.

"'I told the coach, the only way he's getting me is if he's getting you'," Tinch recalled of Ferguson's words.

"I thought he was joking because we had gone through this before, but then I got a call from the coach saying, 'Hey, we're waiting on you'.

"So I went in, quit my job the next day, I booked a flight, packed up my apartment. 2023 was a wild ride and now we're here."

In May 2023, Tinch shone at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships in Jefferson City, a division two level of US college competition.

Tinch, then 22, won the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 8.24m, ran 12.97sec (+3.0) to win the hurdles and also won the high jump with a best of 2.18m.

His all-round athletic ability is reminiscent of Olympic champion and three-time world gold medallist Holloway, who was also an accomplished student long and high jumper for the University of Florida.

- Change in confidence -

Having turned professional in June 2023, Tinch competed at the US trials and a second place there saw him on the plane for that year's world championships in Budapest where he reached the semi-finals.

This season, he won the Shanghai Diamond League in 12.87sec, a time which moved him to equal fourth on the world 110m hurdles all-time list.

Tinch says he had approached this year in the Diamond League with a "different type of confidence in order to go compete with the best athletes in the world. So that's kind of been my mindset", but things are never given in the ultra-competitive world of the US trials.

"Going into the trials this year, especially after you run fast so early, that was the question a lot of people had: 'How's it going to be going to Tokyo?'" he said.

"And I was like, I don't have the luxury of knowing that I made that team.

"I can run 12.8 in May and miss the team in what we have in July or August. I could miss the team then."

Now he knows he'll be heading for the Japanese capital, Tinch was under no illusion how tough the competition will be.

"It's about showing up on those days," he said. "People haven't been scared, they show up to races to win. So that's the mindset."

T.Khatib--SF-PST