An ‘athletic freak’ at age 7
He already has a nickname: Blaze the Great.
He has been called “the next Usain Bolt,” and it may not be hyperbole.
He has a growing Instagram following that just topped 300,000 and viral videos all over the place. He has football skills, too, and has drawn the attention of LeBron James and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, among others.
Oh, and he’s seven years old. It was his return to the track on the weekend that drew the latest round of attention to Rudolph Ingram Jr.
The Tampa, Fla., youngster, who said he began training when he was four, left the competition in his wake, winning the 100-metre dash in 13.48 seconds. He appears to be picking up where he left off last summer, when he won the 100 and finished second in the 200 in his age group at the AAU championships.
“I can give him all the tools to be great, but his drive and work ethic and competitive mentality, it sets the bar so much higher,” his father, Rudolph Sr., told Tampa’s ABC affiliate. “I have seen him (losing) mid race and just take off and get faster.
“He does not like to feel like a loser. He wants to win.”
His goal, he said, is “to get to the NFL.”
He has headlines, too. “This seven-year-old running phenom is already faster than you” (SB Nation); “‘Blaze The Great,’ age 7, looks like he has super speed on the track” (USA Today); “7-year old athletic freak can’t stop going viral” (New York Post).
James couldn’t help but pass judgment on one of his videos: “Sheesh!!” James wrote. “Man he shifty as hell and the fact he was switching the ball to his other hand on the right side away from the defender is even more impressive.”