Christian Taylor on taking track and field to the streets

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If he was king for a day, world and Olympic champion triple jumper Christian Taylor would have more athletics competitions on America’s streets.

“I’d love to see more street athletics comes to the States. It would be great to see these events hit the really big cities like Las Vegas, New York and Miami. Lots of pairs of eyes would see these competitions and it would bring a lot of attention back to the sport in the United States.

"A lot of people said to me ‘what are going to do for the next four years?’ and having events such as this would really broaden exposure to the sport. Athletics has a lot of participation in the US, and it would be great to see someone have the guts to follow through with it and get a sponsor involved to start such competitions.

"Personally, I have competed in one street athletics event in Newcastle, England [watch below]. It was unbelievable, and outside of major championships it was the best competition I’ve been involved with in my life. The crowd are just two feet away from you and you can practically high five them on the runway.”

“Street athletics gives the athletes a real chance to have a personal relationship with the audience. It creates a different atmosphere. I had a phenomenal time.”