Winning the Diamond League with a personal record, it's like icing on the cake.
Christian Coleman
You have to have that dog-eat-dog kind of mentality. I think me playing football all my life and having that chip on my shoulder, not really getting the opportunities that I wanted, really carried over to track and field. It allowed me to use all that energy and put it in the direction of being the best track athlete that I could be.
Michael Johnson doesn't pay my bills or sign my cheques. So I don't really care what he has to say.
Coming into the offseason, when I'm training, when things get hard, I know there's guys that are across the country, training and trying to be the best in the country and trying to be the best in the world. So that just motivates me to just keep going and keep working.
I think my first World Championships, I handled it well. My goal, just like any other meet, was to come out and win.
Every time you get an opportunity to be around your loved ones, cherish it.
I wouldn't know who Michael Johnson was if he didn't run fast times.
It means a lot to be considered the fastest in the United States.
I feel like I'm just built differently.
I've always been a little kid compared to the guys I've competed against in terms of body development. I've always looked a lot younger, so naturally my body got a bit bigger and stronger. I combined that with a good work ethic, good mindset and focus.
Even at recess, in elementary school, it was just a known thing that I was one of the fastest in the school.
That's always my mentality. There's always room for improvement.
Like everybody, I like pizza. You can't go wrong with that or a good cheeseburger.
To be looked up to as one of the Americans that's supposed to carry the torch, go to the major championships and get medals, that's a huge honour.
My weakness might be that the guys with the longer legs can hold their top speed a little bit longer and might not slow down as fast at the end of the race.
People turn professional and they are not running as fast as they did in college because it is a lot different, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't have that kind of transition and always stayed on top.
It means a lot to notch my name in the sport and have my name among some of the greats.
I think people have a misconception of athletes when they think about what goes through their heads, you know what I'm saying?
I am just a young black man living my dream, people are trying to smear my reputation.
When you set a time and you hit that time, you are kind of satisfied. I never want to have that type of feeling.
A lot of people don't realise how competitive college sprinting is.
In track and field, a lot of people don't make a lot of money, so if you're a lower name you might just get run over by USADA because they're just looking to get people out of the sport.
I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can be one of the best.
I've been blessed with a lot of talent, and if I just continue to work hard, then I think my name will be up there with some of the best.
The thing you're working so hard for are milliseconds. Saving a 10th of a second from 9.82 to 9.72 is huge. There are a lot of things I can fix from my technique standpoint and making sure I hold my form at the end of the race, to not slow down as much as I usually do.
I don't want to be anybody else. I want to be the best version of Christian Coleman that I can.
I don't want to be Usain Bolt.
When I look back at my career, I want to say I accomplished certain things and ran certain times.
I feel I'm a really good competitor.
There's always stuff you can improve on. Even when you do something right you can always try to go out and do something better and improve.
I have that mindset going into anything I do, there's always room to improve, you can always do better.
I want to leave my own legacy, make my own trail.
I just keep doing me and representing the sport the right way.
I've just got to continue doing my job and more and more people will see the beauty in the sport that I see.
I've done everything right, I'm a model citizen.
A lot of athletes take legal creatine or protein powders or just different pills and supplements to be able to recover faster. And I don't take anything, I work hard and that's just what it is, I don't take anything.
I'm just a regular guy, I just happen to be really talented, and I have a gift from God that I've worked really hard at.
It's just like I'm an athlete, I'm a human being. I have personal issues going on.
You should live in the moment.
As a professional, you have a routine.
Anybody I have spoken to who has held a record says 'Records are meant to be broken.' They get excited when somebody has an opportunity to break one of their records and take the sport even further.
For me, I just love running in the big moments. That's always been the way. That is what you work so hard for. You don't work hard to run fast in practice or to run fast at small meets.
A lot of people, when they are expected to do great things they fold, but you have got to find a way to navigate it.
I love running in Britain. It has always been good for me.
You got to attack every workout.
You got to attack every practice.
I just love this sport and it's so competitive.
I want to be looked at as one of the greatest sprinters of all-time.
There are so many guys that they are talking about that may be the 'next one' or may be the next Bolt. That whole conversation is exciting to me and really humbling.
I never really set any time goals. I think that puts a limit on yourself.
