American handicap player Devon Allen has said that playing in the NFL is no hindrance to his world championship ambitions, as he struggles with training on a track with running routes on the gridiron.
The two-time Olympian finished fourth in Tokyo, but seized on a golden opportunity to sign as a wide receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles in April, returning to a sport he played during his collegiate days at Oregon in 2016. played during.
While a career that combines high-level track with bone-crunching football would be somewhat risky, Allen shows no signs of fatigue so far.
He performed the third-fastest 110m hurdles of all time to beat world champion Grant Holloway in 12.84 seconds at the NYC Grand Prix on Sunday, despite a grueling schedule.
The 27-year-old said, “The biggest thing for me in football is that I am very fast and very strong as an athlete, I just have to start doing football stuff, running routes, catching football.”
He has four days of organized team activities with the Eagles – Monday through Thursday – and trains at the track on his “off days” – Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
“It just made me more relaxed and focused in terms of what I’m doing… trying to balance both football and track, I needed to take care of my recovery, my sleep, my diet, everything like that.” Had to be really cautious about it.” he said.
With the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships later this month and the World Championships in July, he plans to scale down his football schedule with the full support of his team.
“I don’t want to make it halfway and then July 17th happens and I’m upset and I’m just like ‘I should have just focused on football,'” he said. “And vice versa.”