Christian Coleman Stands at a Career Crossroads With No Clear Lane Ahead

Deji Ogeyingbo wrote this feature on one of our most fascinating athletes, Christian Coleman, as he prepares to battle the world in 2025.

Christian Coleman Stands at a Career Crossroads With No Clear Lane Ahead

Sports will and always be a game of moments. You have to strike when you are hot. A little setback, break, and you stand the chance of being outrun or dethroned: momentum matters a lot. In Track, the United States has a deep resource of sprinters that churns out talented runners every month, that if you blink as an elite sprinter, your spot could be taken from you. Or in the case of Christian Coleman, they run the risk of falling down the pecking order and missing out on global championships.

Once the fastest man on Earth, Coleman now finds himself chasing more than just competitors. He’s chasing rhythm, clarity, and perhaps, a version of himself that feels increasingly distant. The 2019 World Champion in the 100 meters is in a tough spot, and the summer ahead will likely define the next chapter of his career.

On paper, his 2025 season doesn’t look terrible. Coleman has raced five times in the 100 meters this year. He opened with a promising 10.06 at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville in April. But since then, his performances have hovered just above that mark: 10.18 in Xiamen, 10.13 in Shaoxing, 10.11 in Tokyo, 10.12 in Philadelphia. At this level, small margins matter. And Coleman hasn’t been first across the line in any of them.

His most recent result, a 6th-place finish in the 200 meters at the Grand Slam Track meet in Philly, didn’t help. He clocked 20.66, losing to Zharnel Hughes, Aaron Brown, Andre De Grasse, Bryan Levell, and Joseph Fahnbulleh. This was his fifth straight individual loss. It’s a far cry from the explosive sprinter who once dominated the start and finished races with purpose. These days, the start is flatter, and the finish is still a question mark.

Part of the shift may come down to a coaching decision Coleman made last year. After years of training under Tim Hall, his longtime coach from his University of Tennessee, Coleman opted for change. Hall’s new role as a head college coach made one-on-one sessions less frequent. After missing out on the individual sprint team for the Paris Olympics, Coleman looked for a reset.

He landed in Florida with Dennis Mitchell at Star Athletics, a club that trains some of the sport’s biggest names:…