Ronnie Baker (sprinter)

thumb|Ronnie Baker in 2018 Ronnie Baker (born October 15, 1993) is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. Over 60 meters his personal best time of 6.40 seconds makes him the third-fastest man in the event in history. He was champion over 60 m at the USA Indoor Championships in 2017, a medalist over 60 m at the World Indoor Championships in 2018, and a gold medallist in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the World Relays in 2017. Quotes My mindset going into any track meet is that I am the best person no matter what. I can’t go into a race thinking I am not the best guy in the race. I can’t be thinking I am the second-best guy. If I go in there with that attitude, then I am the second-best guy. It is important to convince yourself you are the best in the field. I’ve watched videos of myself in high school and I’ve seen my form change quite a bit. I think that one of the biggest technical aspects I learned came after working with a biomechanist two years ago. He showed me the importance of the knee-lift, which is less a high-lift march and more projecting your knees forward. Once I learned this technique, it changed my whole running form. There is no substitute for hard work, especially in the realm of track and field. If you are not working out and working hard, you get exposed in track and field. You cannot get to a level of championship competition, if you don’t work hard. Last season I made my debut on the pro circuit and one of the biggest things I learned is if you have a bad race, not to get too down on yourself because you only have three days or so to pick yourself up and race again. I didn’t race as well as I wanted to, but you can’t afford to sit and sulk about it. My mum has given me so much advice. We come from a religious family and I’m always told to pray and have faith in what you are doing. She always reminds me that whatever you are trying to accomplish, be appreciative and remember how blessed you really are. My top cooking tip is to make sure I have all the ingredients before I start. That is to make sure you prep everything before you cook to make the process run as smoothly as possible. My biggest tip is to plan the whole meal. I would say never drive when you a sleepy. I have a crazy story from back in my senior summer of high school. I was working a night shift job from 10pm–5am and from there I went straight to a school basketball camp to help out. When I was young, I believed I was never tired, but driving home I dozed off at the wheel hitting the side railing on the highway. For sure, I woke up immediately after that. I didn’t injure myself but my advice would be never to drive tired. Always pick somewhere warm. I am not a fan of cold places even though I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for seven years when it was cold and snowed for much of the year. I think living there really made me appreciate the summertime. Don’t believe everything you read on social media. A lot of people project their opinions [on social media] and people’s opinions get mistaken for facts and those facts alter your reality. Often people on social media believe their social media presence is their reality. I would say take everything you see on there with a grain of salt. "There's no substitute for hard work", June 08 2017 We’d run through the snow and woods, It was really wild. In sixth grade I ran the 100m and I won one of my first races, so I carried on running track from there, I also started playing basketball in high school; it was my dream to be a basketball player. But I needed something to do outside of the basketball season, so I went out for the track team and I kind of grew and started running really fast. By the time I got to college, I had to decide between the two sports, and track was offering me a free education,Track and field has grown on me for sure. There are people running fast in college and there are people running fast at the pro level, so as far as competition goes the biggest difference is being on your own, At college level, you have everything laid out for you. Being over here (in Europe) by yourself is a little different, I get to pick what I want to do and when I want to do it. At college, you’ve got your team there and you just talk to them, I don’t really know anyone as I’m still kind of new. It’s nice, though, to get to meet these people. I’m the newbie, it’s kind of like being a freshman again. I was a little shocked, I felt like I could run in the 6.4s that day, but I didn’t know I’d be running so fast that early, especially beating my PB from last year. When I ran 6.47 last year, I felt like I was in really good shape. I also felt good in Torun, but I didn’t think I was quite ready to hit that kind of speed. It was definitely a shock. I knew I was capable, I just didn’t know it would come that early. The 6.46 felt really good. I don’t think I had the best start, I think I had one of the slowest reaction times. But I felt really calm and relaxed going through the phases. I was so slow out of the blocks; my reaction times were not great but I just didn’t want to false start, I just need to keep working on that and hopefully that will lead to even better 60m times. Baker is still coached by his college coach Darryl Anderson at TCU and their training programme is unchanged compared to previous years. Being my first full season out of college, we’re trying to keep it similar, A big part of why I’m running fast is because I’m still part of that system. And that system works. The biggest goal is making the World Championships team this summer, Pretty much the only goal we’ve laid out is to be competitive during the outdoor season and then to be in the top three at the US Trials and go on to run at the World Championships. Every sub-10-second race I’ve run has been windy, It’s a target for this year but we haven’t put it out as a goal. We’ve talked about it a couple of times, there are times we want to hit at 100m, 200m and maybe even at 400m. If I were to go to the Trials and just compete to be among the top contenders, it will happen, My coach tells me not to worry about my times. He says the running takes care of the times. I’d love to be included in the relay pool, I’d just love to be part of the team and have that experience. Being on a relay team would be amazing. I just haven’t figured out the race yet, I ran all three sprints in high school and my 100m and my 400m were pretty good for a high schooler. But I was never able to get to that same level in the 200m. I just never figured out how to run the race. So this year I’m looking to run more 200m races and hopefully get a better time. There are a lot of young guys coming out and running fast, I think it will be fine and will evolve with the guys who are coming out. Sprints will still be interesting. I hope that I make the team (for the World Championships) just so I can run next to Usain Bolt before he retires; I feel like that’s one huge thing to check off my list. I admire Usain Bolt’s lifestyle and I think I’m a similar kind of person, He is an amazing athlete and has brought a lot of excitement to the sport, and I want to be that kind of athlete. A couple of people have mentioned the 60m world indoor record to me, You fantasise about breaking world records and those aims are always out there, but I tend not to put too much focus on those. It’s on the here and now, the training, taking the races one by one. I want to make the Olympic team in 2020, More important for me, I want to win a medal at the Olympics. I’d even go out and say that I want an Olympic gold medal. My simple goal is to be there when it matters. After indoor success, ‘newbie’ Baker is no longer an unknown, February 22 2017 Two injuries in the span of about two months, The second one kept me out for a while. It was a grind just to get myself to the US Championships. It was rough, it was really hard to rehab and get back together, but I took some time off after nationals and felt better, It's in the past, so now I'm moving forward. I didn't really watch the sprints, I watched a little bit of it here and there, but I was just trying to keep my mind away from it. It was a good time to take a break and take a breather. It was good not being able to see it and focusing on getting back healthy. It's a good time, but it's not the world lead, I'm always trying to be the best. When I'm second, it hurts me. That's just the fight in me. I felt like I would have done really, really well at the World Indoors. But you just have to roll with the punches. It feels good (to be back), I did three meets in the space of seven days, so just getting back into competition mode has been fun. If I can put together 6.44 and 6.44 in a matter of two days, I think that's pretty special, especially as I was pretty tired (in Madrid).” I'm really excited for the outdoor season, I definitely have a lot to work on leading up to the Olympics this year, but it's just good to be back. Making the Olympic team, then getting a medal,That's the goal. Tough year behind him, Baker looks ahead with optimism, March 11 2020 I turned pro in the fall of 2016 and my first winter training as a professional athlete went well. I changed my focus and because I no longer had as many things to occupy my time as I did in college, this allowed me to take better care of my body and hone in on the specific things which propelled me to the next level in 2017. For me, I had two highs. The first came during the indoor season and winning the US 60m title in 6.45 – a world-leading time. It was a great check box for my career and I was excited and happy with the achievement, especially coming in my first year as a professional athlete. Then during the outdoor season, I ran a wind-aided 9.86 to win the 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene. The Prefontaine Classic is one of the bigger meets on the Diamond League schedule and to race against and beat some of the greats of the sport that day was a huge accomplishment for me. Before the race I was nervous, but to run well, post a quick time and win the race pushed me to a whole new level. My low moment came later that year at the US Championships. All I asked coming in was to stay healthy and progress through the rounds, but about 70 metres into my first-round heat, I felt something in my right leg. I crossed the line first in 10.02 but I had picked up a small hamstring strain. Overnight we did all we could to manage this issue. I had massage work. I did stretching, I iced the leg. My right hamstring even felt tight when I sat down. Because I was competing at the US Championships and I had to find a way to get on the start line, I decided to race the semi-finals the next day. From the gun, I was in quite a bit of pain and from about 60-70 metres into the race I knew my chance of advancing had disappeared (Baker finished sixth in 10.26). It was rough to experience, especially as I had run consistently fast all year. I was upset and very down. It was also really hard to swallow, knowing that throughout my NCAA career I had never made a 100m final and that I also missed out on a finals place at the 2016 Olympic Trials. It was really frustrating because I knew I was capable of running faster and making the US team. It made me feel angry. I thought about not wanting to run anymore, but you have to grow up, swallow that defeat and keep running. High and low – Ronnie Baker, March 14 2018 External links Category:1993 births Category:Track and field athletes Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from the United States Category:African Americans Category:People from Louisville