Michael Norman, the 2022 world 400m champion who moved to the 100m in 2023, returned to the 400m after last season and is back with his former coach Quincy Watts, Norman’s agent has confirmed. Ta.
On Saturday, Norman competed in his first race since last July and ran the 400 meters in 44.21 seconds, ranking him second in the world for his best time so far this year.
This was one-hundredth faster than the winning time of Jamaica’s Antonio Watson at the world championships last August.
In order to make the Paris Olympic team in the individual 400 meters, Norman must place in the top three at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Championships, to be held in Eugene, Oregon, June 21-30.
Norman, 26, announced in February last year that he would be switching from the 400m to the 100m after achieving his goal of becoming a gold medalist in the distance event at the 2022 World Championships.
Norman then suffered what he called “setback after setback” during the 2023 season, including tendinitis.
Additionally, in May of last year, he changed his coach from Watts, who had coached him since running at the University of Southern California in 2017 and 2018, to John Smith, who won gold in the 400 meters at the 1992 Olympics.
Last July, Norman finished eighth in the first round of the 100 meters at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships and was eliminated.
A month later, Norman announced that he was ending his season and focusing on the 2024 Olympic year, choosing not to earn an automatic spot in the 400 meters at the World Championships as defending champion.
Norman has set two world fastest times for the 400 meters this Olympic cycle, at 43.56 seconds and 43.60 seconds, both in 2022.
Norman was also the world’s fastest 400m runner in the last Olympic cycle, finishing fifth at the Tokyo Olympics.
