Nyck Harbor sets new PR, inches closer to automatic qualifier for U.S. Olympic Trials
Nyck Harbor’s sensational freshman season on the track for South Carolina continued Thursday in Gainesville, Fla.
On Day 1 of the SEC Outdoor Championship, the freshman ran a new wind-legal personal best in the 200-meter with a time of 20.47. With his showing, Harbor will represent the Gamecocks in the 200m finals on Saturday.
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Harbor’s performance also puts him closer to earning an automatic qualifier for the 2024 US Olympic Trials. According to USA Track & Field, the automatic-qualifying time for the 200m is 20.30. For the 100m, the automatic-qualifying time is 10.05. While Harbor’s personal best in the 100m is 10.12, which he set three weeks ago at the USC Open — third fastest 100m in South Carolina program history — he’s scheduled to run Friday night in Heat 2. Heat 1 is scheduled to run at 7:10 p.m.
“His primary focus right now is track and trying to win championships for our track team,” said Gamecock football coach Shane Beamer earlier this spring. “And then there’s also the summer Olympics coming up as well, which I do believe is a very real possibility for him, potentially.”
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While Harbor still has plenty of work left ahead of him before he’s thinking about the Olympics, for those keeping an eye on the calendar, South Carolina football is tentatively slated to report for fall camp on August 1. Practice No.1 is set to begin on August 2. The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is set to begin on July 26 and run through August 11.
The dual-sport athlete caught 12 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman for Beamer’s football program in 2023. He was the highest-ranked prospect for the Gamecocks’ 2023 recruiting class and returns as one of South Carolina’s most product wide receivers. The On3 Industry Ranking – a weighted average of all four major recruiting services – rated Harbor as the 21st-best football prospect in the country and as the nation’s number-one athlete.
