Young track star goes viral with insane dive over finish line
Coaches always tell runners to sprint through the finish line, but Texas A&M’s Infinite Tucker showed that you can still win with style too.
Competing in the final day of the SEC Championships, Aggies junior Infinte Tucker took home gold on the 400 meter hurdles with one of the most athletic — if creative — finishes you’ll see.
Whether he was losing his balance or just hoping to make a lasting impression, Tucker leapt from more than a body length away to narrowly edge teammate Robert Grant by less than a tenth of a second.
“Honestly, I’m glad I got the win and competed against the best,” Tucker said, via the school’s site.
“Me and my teammates all worked hard for this, and I came out with the win. I’m happy and thankful for that.
“The mindset was to score as many points as possible, we wanted to go 1-2-3-4. It really didn’t matter which one of us won first place, we knew if we gave it our all we would be happy with each other.”
Tucker’s run was notable beyond the finish — his winning time of 49.38 makes him the current US and collegiate leader for the 2019 season.
The time also equals the No. 4 performer on the Aggies’ all-time list and No. 10 on the world list this season.
“I’ve told Tucker you can’t get there faster diving, just run through and you’ll be fine,” Aggies coach Pat Henry said. “He thought he was a swim team guy today.”
Perhaps the time could have been a shade faster.
Science has shown that a runner’s body slows down as soon as it goes airborne. Still, he escaped without injuries, and it made the race all the more memorable.
