WITH HIS 200 WIN at the USATF Los Angeles GP in 20.06, Terrance Laird has made it clear that he is ready for battle in the sprint wars again. The 24-year-old LSU alum dazzled the world in ’21, winning the NCAA 100 and clocking bests of 10.05 and 19.81. Later in the season, though, he seemed to run out of steam, finishing only 6th in the Olympic Trials 200.
After that race, a week or so after he turned pro, he disappeared from the racing scene. No explanation came on social media, and as his absence lengthened, rumors and speculation abounded.
What the armchair coaches and commentators did not realize was that throughout that ’21 season, Laird was a major injury waiting to happen, a time bomb. The previous fall, he had been doing sled pulls in practice. One day, it didn’t feel right at all. “My back just got really tight and it was uncomfortably tight.”
When the discomfort lingered he and his coaches started dealing with the problem. “I got an MRI,” he explains. “I got an injection that the PTs at LSU recommended. I took some time off to rest.”
Still, with the ’21 season approaching, Laird felt he had to make himself ready. “I started ramping it up through the Christmas break. I didn’t even go home [to Philadelphia]. It was just cold. I wanted to go back home, but I had to get ready for the indoor and outdoor season. I had to do everything I could.”
Soon, he was racing, with the help of spinal decompression twice a week. Focusing on the 200, he went undefeated through the SEC Champs, which he won in a PR 20.28. A couple weeks later he cut that to 20.20 to take 2nd at the NCAA Indoor.
Outdoors, he created a stir with his 19.81 victory at the Texas Relays. He says, “I felt good and just attacked it. After that it was just kind of, ‘I’m still kinda banged up. My back’s not 100%,’ but I felt the best I have since not being hurt. And after that it was like a snowball effect, carrying that momentum into every meeting.”
He got used to running with discomfort. Everyone had their sore points; his didn’t seem unusual. “We just kind of all pushed through it. All of our guys that really scored points at Nationals, we were all a little banged up and obviously we won, we handled our business.” The Tigers won the NCAA crown by 31 points over Oregon.
Finally Laird made it to the…
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